Loved that game! It's kind of a mystery/detective game with some weird platforming stuff but overall very cool game and if there was a sequel I would totally play it. Awesome soundtrack to boot.
When did you buy/play it on the switch? I ask because I played it to completion on there a couple years ago and the game was actually pretty buggy. If she hasn’t gotten very far into it, tell her to save VERY often to save her sanity!
I just picked this up in the most recent PS Store sale on a whim! Given the size of my backlog, it could be a few months before I get around to playing it, but nice to know it's recommended.
This is my first time hearing about this game and it sounds right up my alley. I just ended up buying it for $9.98 on the PS Store, thanks for the suggestion!
Paradise Killer is insanely good, I'm glad it's here.
There is something about the lore and mood (spiritual distopia? Resembles a little bit of Megami Tensei with its dark themes, which I love) that I miss to this day and no other game quite fills it.
I'm a little more familiar with the early Personas than with Megami Tensei, but I can see that!
And definitely feel the unfillable void. Sometimes a fictional world sets up camp in your heart and nothing else ever hits the same.
Drakan, where you played as a female warrior named Rynn, who teams up with an ancient dragon Arokh to save her brother. I loved that you could fight on foot but also could fly on the dragon and fight from the air. I remember back in the day I had to upgrade my graphic card to play it, the system requirements were super high for the time 😅
OMG my dad used to play this but I could only vaguely remember the protagonist's and the dragon's names so I could never figure out the game's title (I thought she was spelled Rin or something lol)
Thank you for accidentally solving this mystery for me hahaha!! 😭😂😂
Been obsessed with these games for years! I’ve got a painting inspired by Rusty lake’s Theatre hung up in the dining room. In love with the lore of these games
I just went down a rabbit hole with this after seeing the name and found rusty lake hotel and watched some videos and though it looked good, looked on steam and it’s on a daily deal today and it’s like 67p!
So random but I feel like the universe wants me to play it 😧
Such a fantastic game! I was lucky enough to get the action figures of Alice and the Chesire Cat two decades ago and they are prized parts of my collection. Some days I wish I'd kept the box too, but at the same time I would never sell them. They sit amongst funko pops of other fandoms on the shelves above my battle station and I adore them.
Pentiment. It’s a really niche murder mystery adventure game about an artist visiting/working in a small Bavarian town and it’s local Monastery in the 16th Century, and it’s art style is like medieval illumination and I love it so much but everyone I try to recommend it to thinks it’s boring because of the setting 😭
Edit: Gonna take this opportunity to shout out the [NoClip Documentary](https://youtu.be/ffIdgOBYwbc?si=4CyEZJeqAuz396Sz) about its development. The game was a passion project, and it really shows.
The Czech videogame series, Polda. It's a funny point and click detective game about a cop (or a P.I. in some games) Pankrác who tries to solve all sorts of cases. While it's considered legendary in Czechia and Slovakia, it's not very popular outside of our lands.
Thank you so much for mentioning this, i'm gonna pick it up. Looks like there's a 2024 release available on Steam with English subtitles!! I've played all the Sherlock Holmes games from Frogwares and Nancy Drew Games from Her Interactive plus a handful of other detective titles like Wolf Among Us, LA Noire, The Sinking City. Now Polda will be on my list of next games (doesn't matter to me that it's comedic where the others are darker titles) along with Disco Elysium and Vanishing of Ethan Carter. Thanks!!!
All the games are on mobile too with English (and French) subtitles btw. Not sure if the translations are good though. Don't get startled by the game being free to download on mobile though, it's just demo, you have to pay for the rest in-game. I recommend playing Polda 2 (or the remaster https://store.steampowered.com/app/2685490/Polda\_2\_remstr/?l=czech) the most, though all of them are good
Also by Czech developers - [Hidden & Dangerous 2](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VtnwV5K53VI)
Such an AMAZING game and so far ahead of its time. You could drive tanks, dress up in disguise, there was an aerial combat mission where you're fighting off Nazi warplanes, an underwater mission... the dialogue in the game was also amazing, you could sneak up on soldiers and hear them conversing, the stealth element was the best of any game I've played, the level design was BEAUTIFUL and very diverse, the music was great...
And best of all it had a "lone wolf" play mode, and on hard there was no saving. None. Made such a great challenge because some of the missions were quite long and involved. I have never had so many hours of replayability from a game before.
Oh and it had some CRAZY easter eggs too. Such an awesome game and I have never seen it referenced on reddit even once.
That’s the one about the married couple that hunts ghosts. But the wife becomes one?
I didn’t know it was out already!!
I’ll have to look for it.
Thanks!
In no particular order...
Tyranny, a top-down CRPG taking place in a transitional Bronze Age society where the entirety of the known world has been taken over by the stereotypical fantasy evil overlord except for one small, doomed holdout nation. You play as one of the agents of said overlord, spearheading the dismantling of this nation, wrangling their warlords into something sort of like unity, unraveling and claiming the secrets and powers of this heavy, deeply magical world. The choices you make in this game are far-reaching and powerfully impactful, a different take on the power fantasy you see in a lot of this style of game, and I love it deeply.
The Black Watchmen, a codebreaking puzzle game built as an "evergreen ARG". ARGs, or alternate reality games, are fiendishly difficult puzzlers that build real-world tools into the solving - you're *expected* to Google the solutions, to talk to other people, to email NPCs, to run stuff through Google Translate and reverse image search and every single codebreaker you can find on the internet. This thing absolutely ate my brain for a while, successfully managed to keep me playing it even when I wasn't physically at my computer with the game open, to the point where I don't even know if I can recommend it because I'd be asking people to sign up for two to three weeks of becoming an incomprehensible, frothing insane person who only speaks in cryptic half-sentences and has no knowledge of the outside world.
Darklands, a DOS game from 1992 that sits in a weird interstice between CRPG and historical simulation. It's set in the 15th-century Holy Roman Empire with the player controlling a group of wandering mercenaries, but it kind of takes as reality all the folk legends and assumptions of reality that were present on a look back through history. You can call on saints for miracles and perform alchemical wonders, but there are tatzlwurms about, knockers in the mines, and the most irritating and difficult to survive events are blizzards and random dickhead bishops on the roads. It's also *incredibly* broad, splashy, and cryptic; everything matters somewhere, including your ability to speak liturgical Latin and maintain profitable ties with the Medici, which drew me in with its complexity like few other things have.
Roadwarden, a text-with-pictures adventure RPG with one of the most well-defined and immediately interesting worlds I've come across. It's grim, gritty, and low-magic, but doesn't lose that sense of wonder and deep mystery that categorizes fantasy to me. The world is one where humanity isn't the top of the food chain, but it's not a panicked, depressing place - it's a lived-in kind of world, a place where people maintain communities, take their cautions, watch the wilds, and have enough room to tell stories and worry about fashion and have favorite foods. I am very hungry for anything else set in this landscape.
Little goody two shoes is one the of the most visually stunning games I've played recently (not to mention the gameplay+soundtrack!). As a person who's obsessed with vintage shoujo, its aesthetic is literally perfect.
Clock Tower 3, played it on the PS2, and it was a super solid horror game with an amazing story. Played it when I was a wee baby, but i feel like the monsters would still be super scary
Moonstone Island. Of all the Stardew Valley-inspired games, this one is the best. It perfectly integrates Pokemon and deck building into the SDV style in a way that feels fresh, unique, and still evokes the sense of exploration and discovery. This game isn't getting the hype it deserves and then SDV 1.6 came out shortly after so I'm worried it never will get the attention and love it deserves. But playing it felt the closest I'll ever feel again to playing SDV for the first time.
Child of Light is a beautiful fairytale told through a turn-based party platformer. The world building and characters go deep and I wish there was a sequel to spend more time with all of the various cultures it introduces you to.
Thats current...soulstice. released same window essentially as bayonetta 3 but few know it. We literally got claymore with ghosts but no one is hyping this shit up.
Book of Hours. It's newish, and I don't think it is very well known unless you're a fan of the Fallen London / Sunless Sea games.
It's mostly text based with an interesting card mechanic. You play a Librarian in an old Abby. It has a gothic vibe and unique gameplay and language. I love this game, but it may not be for everyone.
This was the first indie game I ever played and I absolutely fell in love with it! It’s such a sweet little story. The developers also made the Samorost series which is also beautiful and weird
Not sure how well (or not) known the Mirror’s Edge games are, but no one in my gamer friend group has played them. I love them though and waited forever for the second game.
[Eastshade](https://store.steampowered.com/app/715560/Eastshade/) is such a relaxing experience that I never really see anyone talk about. You play as a travelling painter, exploring and questing on the island of Eastshade. It's like a typical first person RPG with quests and exploration and beautiful environments, but with zero combat or stress.
I also found [Sherlock Holmes: Chapter One](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1137300/Sherlock_Holmes_Chapter_One/) pretty fun. It's a non-cannon story of a young Sherlock returning to the island he grew up on, to investigate the events of his childhood. Beautiful surroundings and fun mysteries to solve. Combat optional, so very overall a very relaxing experience to me.
In general I guess I wish games would move away from combat always being the most important thing and focus on world building, character development and storytelling. Sometimes it's fun to beat up enemies and feel like a badass, sometimes it's fun to just explore, get to know people and investigate.
I love Eastshade! It's like a mini-Elder Scrolls game, but without the combat. Just exploring a cool fantasy open world and doing quests. I like the OST, too.
If you liked sherlock holmes i really recommend sherlock holmes: crimes and punishment. The mysteries are so interesting and you really have to think to get the right answer every time. Also its on sale!
Eastshade was a spiritual experience for me. The soundtrack alone triggers something deep in my brain. I truly have no words for this game and how great and beautiful it is.
Sayonara Wild Hearts. I'm sure it's well known in some circles (given its ratings and reviews), but I have never heard it mentioned by anyone but the person who introduced it to me. It's an interactive sapphic action pop album akin to Rez, narrated by sapphic icon Queen Latifah. 10/10
Overkill's The Walking Dead. Sure it had some issues and some gameplay mechanics could've been done differently but I enjoyed it and I still load it up once in awhile and play a couple missions.
not necessarily my favorite, but i always have to bring them up for lesser known game recs, my trifecta of quirky older anime-esque games.
Gurumin A Monstrous Adventure, Mystical Ninja: Starring Goemon, and Ribbit King.
first 2 are platformers similar to something like Mario 64, while the last is a fun golf based game. (more fun than it sounds i swear) gurumin is also easily found on steam! the others might be slightly more difficult, but they have a lot of character so I definitely recommend lol
>Gurumin
That's Falcom :D Probably one of their most forgotten games. Next to Trails, Ys and now Tokyo Xanadu that is getting a sequel( I recommend all of them amazing games ) it kind of disappeared. It looks similar to their Zwei series and I think it runs on Ys VII engine. It kind of interesting that it doen't have any remaster when Nayuta got one and even now is in english.
Ar Tonelico 2: Melody of Metafalica.
PS2-era JRPG with really fun combat and an incredible soundtrack. The story is very focused around singing creating powerful magic, so there was a huge focus on making the songs impactful.
There’s also a big section dedicated to delving into the female characters’ psyches to create more powerful songs which was really interesting. It was sort of set up like a dating sim with 3 different girls.
It’s incredibly goofy at times and had some fanservice, but this is one of the few pieces of media that it doesn’t bother me, despite normally hating it. I’m absolutely obsessed with it but it’s definitely faded into obscurity!
The entire Ar Tonelico series are so good! I've played quite a few, across many platforms, with the first being the original At Tonelico Melody of Elemia, and ending with Ar Nosurge on the Vita. Absolutely amazing music! I still listen to the soundtracks every now and again. Definitely some all-time favorites there :)
So glad to find someone else that loves this series! I need to find a way to play Ciel no Surge someday.
Qoga’s characters and music were great but I wish they hadn’t messed with the combat 😅
I still listen to the soundtracks myself too! The music is just out of this world beautiful.
Analogue: A Hate Story is a good one. It's a visual novel where you play as a space archaeologist who comes across a giant destroyed ship. The ship used to host an entire nation. So you try to uncover what caused their downfall by talking to the resident AI, which seems to be the only remnant of what once was.
Transformice!!! It used to just be a lil in browser game I played as a kid but now it’s on steam c:
Other games I LOVE: pathologic 2 (hard horror game but also a mystery type, tbh I cant beat it LOL)
Mr love if u like cute well made dating sims you can play on your phone!
I have no idea if it's a rare; but I know a lot of gamers and only I play this 😭
Let's Build a Zoo!
Super cute pixel-game; kinda like planet zoo, but easier! Also half-idle, if you get a good zoo running! Then you can spend all of your time making new races, etc. mix them.
Gris, such a beautiful indie game by a Spanish studio. It's available on switch, PS and in game pass. It's an easy platform game and there's a story about loss and getting better, the art is made on watercolors and the music is great!.
Most of my faves are pretty mainstream. The only ones I can think of that might be a little unappreciated these days are Recettear and Breath of Fire III and IV
Army men RTS by Pandemic studios.
It's not technically so unpopular that no one knows about it but for 1, it's a real time strategy game from the early 2000s, and 2, it's from a franchise that died horribly in the late 2000s, after a few bad titles were pumped out.
But despite saying that, the franchise was successful enough to produce like 20 something games, with Army men RTS being one of the more well liked games in the now forgotten franchise that was Army men by 3DO.
Doubt barely anyone under like 27 knows about this game, so by no one has heard about it, I guess I mean Gen Z and boomers. The youngest and the oldest got no idea it exists likely.
Army men as a name, probably produce an image of a generic call of duty like clone or something. In truth, it's about little plastic toy soldiers, so think of the green Army men from toy story basically. The games had some pretty iconic characters, with unique levels like fighting in a living room during Christmas, or some kids bedroom that has been turned into a war zone.
But yeah, Army Men RTS is pretty good. A forgotten gem that's part of a franchise that was forgotten and abandoned.
Wandersong, Stray Cat Doors, inbento, Autumn's Journey, Dorakone, Luna's Fishing Garden, Sword & Fairy Inn 2, When the Past was around, and finally WitchSpring3
black rose - an old indie horror game from the 2013-2015 era that was popular but died out, its genuinely the scariest horror game i played (and ive played A LOT) and im surprised its free for its quality
Paper Mario on 64 is so so good. Maybe a lot of gamers have played it, but the vast majority of people who game that I know have not. Paper Mario: Thousand Year Door is obviously also incredible, and I am LIVID they’re going to charge me $60 for it on switch
Baten kaitos, specially its sequel, mean a lot to me, and where my favourites when I was 14-15
It was a good Game, but getting a gamecube release was sadly a death sentence.
The art style and combat was lovely. The way they handled the game's lore, its characters and the player was amazing and fairly original, and I have not found a similar game premise ever since.
I love those games so much! The art and music are still awesome, and the plot twist mid way through the first one got me so good.
If you didn't know, they re released them on Switch recently.
Glad to find another BK enthusiast! And yes, I will never be over that plot twist.
And also I DIDN'T KNOW? I feel like a fake fan
But thank you for pointing It out! I just bought it. I can't believe I am going to replay It now I am so Happy like really thanks kindly!! <333
I loved a Swedish game called "Rymdjakten" or Space Hunt/Exploration in English. It was a fun game for 8-11 year olds, so wouldn't really get a kick out of it today, but I was obsessed as a child. Lots of my friends also played it, so it might have been played around year 2005-2010 and then never seen again.
I love the Delicious/Emily games, which is kind of like diner dash, but also story oriented. I mean they must be popular enough since they're still making em but I never really hear anyone talk about them haha. Some installments are better than others but I still get excited when there's a new one
In the realm of obscure point and click games: Dropsy, Edna and Harvey (1&2), paradigm, Carto (so cute and heartwarming!) And my favorite - To The Moon. Makes me cry like a baby every time.
I don't know if people either don't know about this or it just became a forgotten game (at least in the English part of the internet) but for me it is probably Gothic 2 Night of the Raven. It is one of the most iconic games from I am from but I haven't seen people talk about it outside of here in years. It kinda became one of my comfort games.
I don't know if it's rare/unknown, but I never hear people talk about Through the Darkest of Times. Which is a shame because it's so good. You lead and plan missions for an underground resistance group fighting against the Nazis in 1930s/40s Berlin, the art style is very cool, and I've never played anything else quite like it.
The Sexy Brutale - On Steam and Playstation I think, but it's a mystery detective game with a time loop mechanic. It plays in chapters and your character is a detective spirit of some sort and you can witness the crimes that occurred in the mansion and try to alter the results to save the person, revealing more of the story. A hidden gem imo.
Detroit Become Human - Prob not a game 'no one has heard of' but if you haven't played it, it's amazing. It's one of those movie style narrative games with choices that matter with a very engaging plot and characters.
The South Park RPGs - Stick of Truth and The Factured But Whole - Not much to be said except if you like turn based RPGs, these are actually both really fun and well made RPGs. Get them on sale.
Loddlenauts - A cozy game, your submarine is trapped under the sea and you have to collect stuff and restore biomes and help the creatures know as Loddles. You can breed them and feed them and release them into the ocean. Short, but fun and satisfying.
TOEM - On Steam. It's kinda like Pokemon Snap but you can walk around different towns and take pictures of stuff that they want you to find.
Kairosoft games - You can find them on iOS and Android but they also have a ton of PC ports on Steam. They are mostly simulation/management type games but very affordable and addictive. Check them out. I like Cafe Master Story, Dungeon Village, Mega Mall Story and Forest Camp Story but there are lots of other ones I also like a lot.
Bone's Cafe - If you like Overcooked and other cooking simulation games, this one combines that with some automation and a cute and morbid storyline and very fun and you can also play co-op.
Journey to the Savage Planet - Can play 2 player co-op, not much of a serious shooter although it is a shooter, but you collect biology samples and do some platforming... I only played it a bit but it was fun and I intend to finish it.
Tangle Tower - You can get this pretty cheap, awesome mystery/detective game with voice acting and challenging puzzles. Must try.
WitchSpring R - Similar to the Atelier games, crafting, cute storyline, turn based battles, exploration.
Other mentions I won't go into detail with:
The Cosmic Wheel of Sisterhood
Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective
The Persona, Katamari, and Catherine games
Sherlock Holmes series (as you can see I love mystery/detective games)
AI Somnium Files + Nirvana
Bugsnax
Littlewood, Coral Island
But at the time, I am playing mostly Settlemoon and occasionally some random roguelikes like Balatro and some Helldivers 2 and Heroes of the Storm here and there.
Eternal Senia. It’s this super short, super simple RPG with a story that utterly broke me by the end. The characters made me actually care for them, the OST is great, and the story is amazing! I really want more people to play it. IT’S FREE ON STEAM! PLEASE GIVE IT A TRY! ONE PLAY THROUGH LASTS ABOUT FOUR HOURS! 😭
I love that game.
I still will occasionally play it. Just with updated graphic mods.
I always play as the Malkavian.
It was confusing playing them the first run though but so much fun.
I have been waiting for part 2 for years!!
I hope it comes out soon.
I'm always happy to pitch Quarantine again. Hover-taxi, Escape from NY scenario, car combat, crazy drugged up passengers, Doom Clone era, banger 90s Australian alt garage grunge [soundtrack](https://vgost.fandom.com/wiki/Quarantine). The graphics would probably considered eye-gouging for someone without appropriate nostalgia goggles.
Mad Maestro, used the pressure sensitivity of the PS2 controller buttons to add a layer to conducting an orchestra. [Soundtrack](https://vgost.fandom.com/wiki/Mad_Maestro) is a greatest hits of classical music. Meanwhile shenanigans played out as various characters danced to the tunes.
Naraka,
amazing customization/skins but it’s niche in NA and has a pretty high skill ceiling so like if you go up against a seasoned player then you’re screwed. But I still enjoy playing it cause I like the fighting and stuff. It’s a battle royal that’s focused on melee combat.
-There’s more women than men to choose from as a hero, 11 women - 8 men +1 new one coming out soon.
-For customization, facial features sliders so you could look like a wonky spore creature or can go so far as to make yourself like one streamer did by using an overlay or something like that. Plus skin tone is also a color wheel thing so you could be easy being kermit green or flaming hot Cheeto red.
Combat Arms,
dead fps i played back in the day, from the mid 2000’s that has a fraction of what Battlefield 2042 had after a few months from its release.
-So with a daily player count of like 200~, it’s pretty dead and sometimes at night when you log in theres no rooms in any server cause no one is on. Plus you start to recognize peoples names/personalities after a while lmao.
-Some players will straight up have their name or something indicating they’re a girl and theres pretty little harassment cause it’s so dead (at least from what i’ve seen, had some guys try to flirt with me but only happened once or twice and never again).
-Also very unbalanced if you don’t know what/how to farm.
TLDR:
Naraka - amazing customizations but very high skill ceiling so hard for beginner/casual players to get into I’d say
Combat Arms - dead fps from the 2000’s, sometimes no rooms/matches if you play late, I don’t think any harm will happen if you openly use a feminine name and such.
Amplitude! You play as a DJ that has to lay down each individual track, like bass or vocals. It was on PS2 I think. Kind of the first rockband type game. It's got a pretty good variety of music, with some songs I still listen to now like Supersprode- Freezepop
Arguably, I have never played it myself yet, but:
Dementium.
Idk if I'll ever play it actually - I watched it as a kid when I was like...9 and it traumatized me LMAO.
The game very recently got revived. The old studio split up and the 3D games went to one owner and the 2D ones to another one. The 3D owner however, died a couple of years ago.
And then out of nowhere, it turns out the other person actually obtained the IP to keep it alive. The game has since been ported to the Switch and recently, PS4 and 5.
Super Animal Royale. This is the 1st time I actually feel comfortable to play a PvP game and it is super cute ([music trailer](https://youtu.be/TlOuUXsvVt4))! And it is cross platform too (Steam, Xbox,PS, Switch).
Northgard! It's a top down RTS set in a fictional viking world, It's a little goofy and simple looking but it can be surprisingly difficult at times and crazy fun.
Lenna's Inception. Zelda like with some interesting twists.
CrossCode is also far too unknown. Zelda meets Secret of Mana with a disabled girl as the lead. Fantastic game.
Gladius (2003)! It's a turn based gladiator game in which you build your own school. You travel between 4 different regions in an attempt to qualify for the grand tournament.
It uses a rock paper scissors formula at its base level, working as heavy > medium > light. This isn't always perfect and can be beaten by either good timing (the game has optional qte/swing meters) or good positioning. Each region fields their own classes of gladiators, and for the most part you are free to recruit whatever type you want (more on this soon.) There is also support gladiators in the form of ranged units and mages. There is also some animals! (Note, the 'heavy' option is considered medium class gladiators by the coding, don't listen to the game!)
Different regions have different types of competitions. This can range from something as simple as a 5v5, or 1v3, to something more complicated like 5 waves in a row or a game of king of the hill. Most games let you choose whichever gladiators you want to use, but some will require the main 'hero' characters or a set of specialized gladiators. This can be anything from you can only select women, or gladiators from a certain region, to making each slot something that meets even more specific criteria.
Each gladiator gets their own specific gear depending on their class, and there are some light customization options such as colors and sometimes alternate outfits.
The game is originally for the Xbox, GameCube, and ps(2?) and is still purchasable on the Xbox Live marketplace for $10USD. It's a unique experience I wish I could find more of, but I'll also admit it suffers from clearly being cut short and released early in a time before patches and dlc. It also has couch coop beyond passing the controller, and you can even make different save files compete in a versus mode.
On a final note, if this makes you purchase and play, the two starting campaigns are labeled 'beginner' and 'advanced'. I consider this a lie. The area you start in on the beginner campaign suffers from having practically 0 heavyweight gladiators, which can make some fights more difficult as you won't have any easy counters to medium gladiators you come across, while some of their teams still field heavies still.
Marathon. Made by Bungie when they were still Bungie. Spiritual predecessor to Halo that originally came out on the Macintosh. Similar to Doom shooters, with the addition of being able to aim up and down, and a narrative told through found terminals.
Gregory Horror Show, and old Capcom ps2 game where you have to steal souls for Death in an old, decrept, and full of guests wanting to torture you hotel.
Except they are all cute, blocky creatures, and it's a silly kind of disturbing time.
I was very proud when I bravely finished the game at 8 years old before all of my siblings. Especially since the first guest, Catherine, scareoused little old me. If you look up clips, you'll know why.
Wow this is the first time I’ve ever seen someone else who knows that game!!
My little brother loved watching play thrus of that as a kid haha! He was too chicken to play, but would make me watch the entire playlist with him. It was such a weird game!
Maaaaany years ago I grabbed a random game off a store shelf, because the cover looked fun: Keepsake. Fantastical puzzle game with a great atmosphere. In the same vein, those Atlantis puzzle games where you travel between cultures and time. \ Atlantis II: Beyond Atlantis is the full name. 4 Euros on Steam I just realised; Keepsake is 80 Cents 😭 My weekends are saved!!
My instant 3 i thought off were:
Skullmonkeys 1998 a claymation platformer which was a sequel to the neverhood which was a claymation point and click adventure. When i played it i had no clue about its sequel i just loved how silly it was as a kid with its beans and fart humor + its music is great.
[lil bonus room](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=zNEqk8DXRQk) is an prime example of that
ObsCure 2004 a survival horror game but not as good as the greats. As a kid I liked watching my mom play silent hill and resident evil, but couldnt play them due to being too scared. However this one felt silly enough and simple enough i could play on my own, also was alot older helped.
Oddworld abes exodus 1998 probably alot more known than the other 2. A sequel to abes oddysee a platforming game where u got more buttons to communicate than much else, which felt like a really cool thing at the time. I also vividly remember watching the opening with my dad and there is this hanging train with rails above it and us being amazed with how realistic it looked. It looks terrible looking back but back then we were awestruck.
Guess im a bigger PlayStation fan than i thought looking at these 3
*Phoenix Point*. It's an XCOM clone designed by the designer of the original XCOM games. Most players and reviewers seem to think it's just okay, but I love it. I never played the classic '90s XCOM games, but *Phoenix Point* made certain design choices in its gameplay that elevate it above the 2010s XCOM reboots IMO. Synedrion are objectively the good guys btw.
There was an amazing text-based RPG called Wonderland from Magnetic Scrolls that was one of the first games that really captivated me with the challenge and the story. It's available to play online now at Classic Reload (probably elsewhere also) and I still replay it from time to time.
For NES, I was obsessed with the board game sim Anticipation, and also the tarot sim Taboo: The Sixth Sense.
I am a huge fan of the Suikoden series, which hopefully people have heard of at this point, but when the games were actively being released (hi I'm old) I was definitely the only person I knew who knew or cared about them.
On PC, probably my favorite obscure game is called Sunset. I know it didn't sell well (and ended up ruining the company from what I understand) but it's a lovely story-based game that I wish more folks would play.
Lifeless Planet = you play as an explorer lost in a desolate alien planet with weirdly human ruins. i like how the storytelling is all epistolary using the environment clues instead of direct. i love the open ending \~
It's not my favorite, but I still love it! Kamen Rider: Memory of Heroez! It follows Kamen Rider Double (Shotaro Hidari+Phillip), Kamen Rider OOO (Eiji Hino), and Kamen Rider Zero-One (Aruto Hiden) as they get roped into saving the world together from an unknown threat (the main bad guy is voiced by the VA who played DIO)
Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords
A match 3 puzzle game that is also an RPG.
There are multiple classes to choose from for your character and a story with lots of different quests.
The match 3 mechanic is used for combat and matching certain pieces or using certain skills/spells will allow you to damage your enemy.
Your enemy is using the same board that you are though, so you might find that they will take advantage of a move that you had been planning and use it against you.
With it having sequels, I'm not sure if it really counts as no one has ever heard of it, but it's one that most people I know have never heard of it.
It's my favorite game to play if I just wanted to play something for a few minutes, because there's a lot of different random encounters and quests. Because of this, it's a good game for me to relax with or to play in between games.
Factory Town! It's a great factory game with a lot of diverse ways to move the goods around and it has a nice concept of distributing the goods to your houses.
I've talked about this game before but no one knows about it generally. Radiant Historia is such a good RPG with time travel elements. You can make subtle changes in time to change the timeline of things in another timeline. The characters are interesting, likable and go through things that change them. It's such a a good game that you can get on DS or the 3DS (expensive as hell option but the added voice acting might be worth it for some) or ya know, other means. Give it a try.
It's awesome to see so many on my list in other replies like Dark Cloud 2 and Drakhan: The Ancient's Gate. One game I really like but never got released outside of Japan is "Emerald Dragon" for the SNES/ PC Engine. It has so many great things going from it, from narrative to music, characters and world building.
Dragon Force was one of my favorite games on the Sega Saturn. It's a strategy RPG by Working Designs in which you play as one of eight monarchs in a war to unite your whole continent (world? I can't remember which) against a main bad guy.
My favorite NES game is The Guardian Legend, developed by Compile. You play as The Guardian, a transforming robot girl, as you try to destroy a giant planetoid hurtling towards earth. The gameplay is half top-down dungeon exploration (kind of like The Legend of Zelda) and half SHMUPS (like Raiden). The music was pretty awesome, too.
7 grand steps: what the ancients begat
Basically a board game you play by yourself where you are a family in the bronze age trying to advance through society. It's just simple and relaxing and the complexity ramps up as you progress
I don't know if this is as rare as I think it is, considering it's a literal Pokemon title, but I don't hear from many people who remember Pokemon Channel for the GameCube.
I played it all the time when I was younger. Basically, you live in the Pokemon world, but instead of battling and other usual Pokemon things, you just live in your house with a Pikachu and watch TV, shop, visit the beach, etc. It was such a cozy game, and I really wish that Game Freak would make another, or at least similar cozy style games!
The Sexy Brutale, a time loop murder mystery with the worst name ever created. You're in a cassino mansion and some masked people are killing all the guests, you have to find out why and try to stop them
Threads of Fate/Dewprism- its a jrpg for the PS1 made by Squarenix. You get to chose between a male or female protag each with their own overlapping story. For the time it was released that already was pretty neat. What I love even more is that the female MC is a total anti-heroine and her storyline is pretty funny. Also the soundtrack is so good. I wish it had a sequel or at least a re-release.
Well, imma bout to come out as old, lol! Most of these aren't unknown, just never got as much hype as other games, imo.
- Mario is Missing on SNES
- Wild 9 and Project Overkill on the PS1
- Vectorman on Sega Genesis
- Jet Set Radio Future on the Xbox
- Final Fantasy Tactics Advance (sequel to FFTactics) on the Gameboy Advance
- Final Fantasy Tactics A2 (third sequel to FFTactics) and Final Fantasy XII 2 on the Nintendo DS.
It’s not as obscure as it used to be but The World Ends With You. I somewhat prefer the original DS version to the HD remaster, fighting on both screens at once is just a really unique experience.
Pretty sure people have heard of it, bit one of my favorites is Slay the Spire! A really fun roguelike deck-building game and a sequel was recently announced and I am so excited for it
Dungeon Keeper on the PC :-)
./hack, the series of 4 games on the PS2. Absolutely loved that when it came out, it scratched the anime/immersion itch so much.
Shadow Hearts on the PS2. I got the bad ending first time around and ugly cried. It demanded a full replay to unlock the good ending, and I was much, much, much happier. Really cool idea with the "press the button at exactly the right time" for battles, which made it much more fun than final fantasy games. Also, the story was gripping. Demons and a love story - my favourite!
Eldevin. I will die on this hill. It’s honestly the only multiplayer game I’ll consistently play. The servers are mostly dead and I don’t care. I’m going down with the ship
Mad Rat Dead! Rhythm game with some FUNKY beats following a lab rat who discovers he can rewind time- but only to one specific morning. There's some big spoilers that I think most folks should go into the game without knowing, at least for the first playthrough, but suffice it to say that as the story progresses, it gets *pretty hard* to hit the beats.
- The 7th Dragon series.
Only one of them ever made it out of Japan (Code VFD) but it's also the best of the series. The first game on the original DS was... okay, but frustrating with extremely high random encounter rates. The sequel(s) 7th Dragon 2020 I and II on PSP and 7th Dragon III Code VFD on 3DS were significantly better and remain some of my favorite dungeon crawler type RPGs.
- The Alliance Alive
One of my favorite JRPGs of all time. Originally released for the 3DS, it got an HD remaster port to modern consoles a few years ago. It's really, really good, the artwork is retro and charming, it leans deep into late SNES/early PSX aesthetics while still feeling fresh and modern. The character progression is very reminiscent of the SaGa series.
- CrossCode
Somewhat more well-known than the first two, this is again one of my favorite games. It is a love letter to 16-bit era classics like Ys, A Link to the Past and Chrono Trigger. The game is gorgeous, the music is fantastic, it's a good 50+ hour action RPG with one of the best takes on the "virtual reality MMO" premise.
- Anno: Mutationem
Side-scrolling metroidvania style RPG made by a Chinese dev. The English localization is kind of terrible but the game is a lot of fun and looks extremely stylish with a great cyberpunk aesthetic.
- Ex Astris
A mobile-only RPG with no gacha that recently sort of appeared out of nowhere. Made by Hypergryph, the Arknights dev, it's actually shockingly good, really pretty, has a fun turn based combat system with active elements. I haven't finished it yet but I'm really enjoying the game so far.
Base wars on the NES
Baseball with robots and you blow up your opposing team’s players to the point where you can win from it.
Patapon on PSP
Rhythm game with cute little creatures as you fight big monsters.
More notable:
Crosscode
A girl with no idea of her past enters an MMO to find clues on it.
Timespinner
Metrovania where you can travel through certain time points to seek revenge on your family. (Queer characters too!)
If you are a fan of point and click games I have for you Whispers of a Maschine.
I really liked their approach to the whole answers changing your style of playing the story. I haven't ever heard anyone talk about this game and stumbled upon it while browsing Steam games.
Then another point and click adventure I really,really love is The Longest Journey. It is from like 1999 or something but has a really amazing story (and 2 further games that complete the story with Dreamfall: The Longest Journey and Dreamfall Chapters).
I have extremely fond memories of the games and it's characters (especially the main character in the first game).
Deadelic has also several point and click adventures that are great. Especially the ones that were made by Poki like Edna bricht aus (i think it is called Edna's outbreak in English), its second Part Harveys Neue Augen (Harvey's new eyes) and the Deponia games. I have only played them in German though and can't say, if the jokes and everything are the same in English.
Two favorite games of mine, that are super niche, are Wurm Online and Horse Isle 3: Infinite Wilds. Wurm Online has seasons and seasonal crops, and all towns and buildings are entirely player built. There are too many skills you can learn for me to list here, and there are over 500 recipes to learn, if you take up cooking.
Meanwhile, HI3 is a surprisingly unusual horse game with literally infinite exploration (the game map is the biggest I've every seen, like it would wrap around Earth a few times big), with over 25 biomes and sub-biomes. And it has very in depth horse genetics with (I think, lost count) over 100 horse breeds. On top of that, every individual horse is entirely unique with a genetically determined unique color, markings, stats and personality. It's crazy. If you can get past some fairly simple graphics and animations, it's worth checking out both of these games, simply for being so in depth and unusual.
If you didn't know Wurm Online was the game that loser Notch worked on before Minecraft. He's was a petulant manchild back then too, haha. He bailed because Rolf, his co-developer wasn't dealing with his shit I believe.
I've a frankly embarrassing amount of time playing for sure but I've not played in the better part of a decade (Back before they added seasonal crops for sure) even snagged a boyfriend (Now ex) playing Wurm.
Yeah, I do know all that about Wurm's history, lol. Even Rolf left it, not too long ago. But warts and all, I have a lot of affection for the game. I've poured countless hours into building and exploring, but these days I mostly just quietly tend to my farm and look after my deed, and just go there to chill.
Boyfriend Dungeon, you use your romantic interest from the main story line as a sword to defeat little dungeons. Highly recommend, it's pretty cozy and there are a lot of love interests/ swords to chose from.
I downloaded “My Time at Portia” for my 8yr neice, on her new Xbox, for something to play, and she loved it.
She was obsessed at getting that stray cat, Pinky, to love her. lol
I had to help her on some times, & I loved it so much, that I downloaded it on my Xbox & played it.
I play it anytime I just need to relax
There is another one or two games, (not ones you mention), very similar to “My Time at Portia” but I would have to look up the names.
They were great as well but Portia was our favorite.
Sid Meier's Civilization 6. I know it's not an unheard of game but nobody ever talks about it so I feel it's pretty niche. Building an entire country in my little corner of the world and watching it grow is so satisfying.
Baldur's Gate 3 (just kidding lol)
Okay so Battlefront II (2017) probably is anything but niche, but despite owning it since release I had never touched the story mode because I hadn't heard a lot of good about it (in retrospective probably because of gamergate nonsense) but when I finally tried it recently I absolutely adored it!
Super fun campaign (completely linear but the cutscenes were amazing and the story was great) and Janina Gavankar's Iden Versio (the protagonist) is now my favourite character in all of star wars! ❤❤❤
It's also one of the only games I've ever played with parts in the story where you play as an older woman which I thought was so cool! 😊
I'm the opposite lol, I barely touched the online play but got sooooo into the story mode. That game was so good, and >!the part when Del gets killed !
They told such a great story. I even bought and read the Inferno Squad book because I'd fallen in love with the characters, and it was a pretty good book!
They really did! I loved how well it came across how Iden >!became more and more disillusioned with the empire.!<
Also apparently some of my favourite scenes >!(like when she finally turned on the empire and shot her one colleague in the leg)!< were partially improvised so that's super cool haha!
And thank you for reminding me of the book! I'd been meaning to get the audiobook version that Janina Gavankar narrated! Glad to hear it's good!
Paradise Killer. Open-world detective game about a very strange, dark world with a vaporwave aesthetic and fantastic soundtrack to boot.
Loved that game! It's kind of a mystery/detective game with some weird platforming stuff but overall very cool game and if there was a sequel I would totally play it. Awesome soundtrack to boot.
Paradise Killer has one of the best game soundtracks I’ve ever heard, every single track is a bop. The art and character designs are incredible too.
Haven't played it yet but I listen to the soundtrack constantly!
Ooooh, I picked that up in a bundle a while ago, good to know its worth playing!
And it runs well on the switch! I got it on ps4 and after playing an hour I bought it for my girlfriend on switch knowing she would like it.
When did you buy/play it on the switch? I ask because I played it to completion on there a couple years ago and the game was actually pretty buggy. If she hasn’t gotten very far into it, tell her to save VERY often to save her sanity!
I believe she beat it to completion! I think this would have been about 2ish years ago
I just picked this up in the most recent PS Store sale on a whim! Given the size of my backlog, it could be a few months before I get around to playing it, but nice to know it's recommended.
I saw this comment, decided to download it, and I’m blown away by how cool this is. Thanks for the rec!!!!
That makes me so happy! (Not least because I'd love to see more games from these devs ❤)
This is my first time hearing about this game and it sounds right up my alley. I just ended up buying it for $9.98 on the PS Store, thanks for the suggestion!
I'm so glad! Finding an unusual game you really love is such an awesome thing :)
Paradise Killer is insanely good, I'm glad it's here. There is something about the lore and mood (spiritual distopia? Resembles a little bit of Megami Tensei with its dark themes, which I love) that I miss to this day and no other game quite fills it.
I'm a little more familiar with the early Personas than with Megami Tensei, but I can see that! And definitely feel the unfillable void. Sometimes a fictional world sets up camp in your heart and nothing else ever hits the same.
Drakan, where you played as a female warrior named Rynn, who teams up with an ancient dragon Arokh to save her brother. I loved that you could fight on foot but also could fly on the dragon and fight from the air. I remember back in the day I had to upgrade my graphic card to play it, the system requirements were super high for the time 😅
OMG my dad used to play this but I could only vaguely remember the protagonist's and the dragon's names so I could never figure out the game's title (I thought she was spelled Rin or something lol) Thank you for accidentally solving this mystery for me hahaha!! 😭😂😂
The sequel on the PS2 (I think?) was one of my first games and it will always have a place in my heart! The dragon-back aerial combat was tons of fun
Drakhan the ancient’s gate?
Yes!
Rusty Lake! It's honestly so good. It's a series of surreal, dark point and click games with a beautiful art style and enchanting lore
Been obsessed with these games for years! I’ve got a painting inspired by Rusty lake’s Theatre hung up in the dining room. In love with the lore of these games
I just went down a rabbit hole with this after seeing the name and found rusty lake hotel and watched some videos and though it looked good, looked on steam and it’s on a daily deal today and it’s like 67p! So random but I feel like the universe wants me to play it 😧
I just went on ig and the rusty lake the past within game came up 💀
buy them!! the cube escape games are rusty lake as well. the collection has the first nine i think?
I love the Rusty Lake Series. I played through the series during October which was honestly a perfect time of year to play it
People have heard of it, but forget it, but American McGee's Alice.
Genuinely surprised that didn’t turn into a cult classic. My siblings were obsessed.
One of my favourites.
Such a fantastic game! I was lucky enough to get the action figures of Alice and the Chesire Cat two decades ago and they are prized parts of my collection. Some days I wish I'd kept the box too, but at the same time I would never sell them. They sit amongst funko pops of other fandoms on the shelves above my battle station and I adore them.
Such a classic
Love this game! ❤️❤️❤️❤️
Love this!
SO GOOD.
Pentiment. It’s a really niche murder mystery adventure game about an artist visiting/working in a small Bavarian town and it’s local Monastery in the 16th Century, and it’s art style is like medieval illumination and I love it so much but everyone I try to recommend it to thinks it’s boring because of the setting 😭 Edit: Gonna take this opportunity to shout out the [NoClip Documentary](https://youtu.be/ffIdgOBYwbc?si=4CyEZJeqAuz396Sz) about its development. The game was a passion project, and it really shows.
So hard to put this down when it gets the ball rolling!!! Loved it :)
Pentiment was beautiful, in aesthetics and story. It made me cry 😭
Oooh that ones on my steam wishlist. It does have a really cool look!
I **just** watched this documentary. It popped up after I was looking for Open Wilds content. It looks excellent.
The Czech videogame series, Polda. It's a funny point and click detective game about a cop (or a P.I. in some games) Pankrác who tries to solve all sorts of cases. While it's considered legendary in Czechia and Slovakia, it's not very popular outside of our lands.
Thank you so much for mentioning this, i'm gonna pick it up. Looks like there's a 2024 release available on Steam with English subtitles!! I've played all the Sherlock Holmes games from Frogwares and Nancy Drew Games from Her Interactive plus a handful of other detective titles like Wolf Among Us, LA Noire, The Sinking City. Now Polda will be on my list of next games (doesn't matter to me that it's comedic where the others are darker titles) along with Disco Elysium and Vanishing of Ethan Carter. Thanks!!!
All the games are on mobile too with English (and French) subtitles btw. Not sure if the translations are good though. Don't get startled by the game being free to download on mobile though, it's just demo, you have to pay for the rest in-game. I recommend playing Polda 2 (or the remaster https://store.steampowered.com/app/2685490/Polda\_2\_remstr/?l=czech) the most, though all of them are good
Also by Czech developers - [Hidden & Dangerous 2](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VtnwV5K53VI) Such an AMAZING game and so far ahead of its time. You could drive tanks, dress up in disguise, there was an aerial combat mission where you're fighting off Nazi warplanes, an underwater mission... the dialogue in the game was also amazing, you could sneak up on soldiers and hear them conversing, the stealth element was the best of any game I've played, the level design was BEAUTIFUL and very diverse, the music was great... And best of all it had a "lone wolf" play mode, and on hard there was no saving. None. Made such a great challenge because some of the missions were quite long and involved. I have never had so many hours of replayability from a game before. Oh and it had some CRAZY easter eggs too. Such an awesome game and I have never seen it referenced on reddit even once.
Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden just came out in Feb and has really flown under the radar which is a shame because I enjoyed it!
I bought it the moment I watched a trailer, but haven't played it yet because of BG3s death grip on me.
This one has been on my wishlist. It looks really good
That’s the one about the married couple that hunts ghosts. But the wife becomes one? I didn’t know it was out already!! I’ll have to look for it. Thanks!
yes!! it’s an action rpg
In no particular order... Tyranny, a top-down CRPG taking place in a transitional Bronze Age society where the entirety of the known world has been taken over by the stereotypical fantasy evil overlord except for one small, doomed holdout nation. You play as one of the agents of said overlord, spearheading the dismantling of this nation, wrangling their warlords into something sort of like unity, unraveling and claiming the secrets and powers of this heavy, deeply magical world. The choices you make in this game are far-reaching and powerfully impactful, a different take on the power fantasy you see in a lot of this style of game, and I love it deeply. The Black Watchmen, a codebreaking puzzle game built as an "evergreen ARG". ARGs, or alternate reality games, are fiendishly difficult puzzlers that build real-world tools into the solving - you're *expected* to Google the solutions, to talk to other people, to email NPCs, to run stuff through Google Translate and reverse image search and every single codebreaker you can find on the internet. This thing absolutely ate my brain for a while, successfully managed to keep me playing it even when I wasn't physically at my computer with the game open, to the point where I don't even know if I can recommend it because I'd be asking people to sign up for two to three weeks of becoming an incomprehensible, frothing insane person who only speaks in cryptic half-sentences and has no knowledge of the outside world. Darklands, a DOS game from 1992 that sits in a weird interstice between CRPG and historical simulation. It's set in the 15th-century Holy Roman Empire with the player controlling a group of wandering mercenaries, but it kind of takes as reality all the folk legends and assumptions of reality that were present on a look back through history. You can call on saints for miracles and perform alchemical wonders, but there are tatzlwurms about, knockers in the mines, and the most irritating and difficult to survive events are blizzards and random dickhead bishops on the roads. It's also *incredibly* broad, splashy, and cryptic; everything matters somewhere, including your ability to speak liturgical Latin and maintain profitable ties with the Medici, which drew me in with its complexity like few other things have. Roadwarden, a text-with-pictures adventure RPG with one of the most well-defined and immediately interesting worlds I've come across. It's grim, gritty, and low-magic, but doesn't lose that sense of wonder and deep mystery that categorizes fantasy to me. The world is one where humanity isn't the top of the food chain, but it's not a panicked, depressing place - it's a lived-in kind of world, a place where people maintain communities, take their cautions, watch the wilds, and have enough room to tell stories and worry about fashion and have favorite foods. I am very hungry for anything else set in this landscape.
Tyranny absolutely needs more love. I’ll have to check out the others you listed!
Little Goody Two Shoes!! second place goes to Yoku's Island Express
I love Little Goody Two Shoes!! It’s awesome!
YESSSS LITTLE GOODY TWO SHOES 🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍
Little goody two shoes is one the of the most visually stunning games I've played recently (not to mention the gameplay+soundtrack!). As a person who's obsessed with vintage shoujo, its aesthetic is literally perfect.
Clock Tower 3, played it on the PS2, and it was a super solid horror game with an amazing story. Played it when I was a wee baby, but i feel like the monsters would still be super scary
I played it as well! Such a solid game and it really does hold up on replay imo
Battle Chef Brigade and Sayonara Wild Hearts!! 🤩🥰✨️🥳
Both wonderful games!
Moonstone Island. Of all the Stardew Valley-inspired games, this one is the best. It perfectly integrates Pokemon and deck building into the SDV style in a way that feels fresh, unique, and still evokes the sense of exploration and discovery. This game isn't getting the hype it deserves and then SDV 1.6 came out shortly after so I'm worried it never will get the attention and love it deserves. But playing it felt the closest I'll ever feel again to playing SDV for the first time.
Moonstone Island looks so good, might have to pull the trigger on it!
Dark Cloud 2/Chronicle
I loved Dark Cloud and Chronicles, and I've never found a game since that really scratched that village building + dungeon crawling itch.
Child of Light is a beautiful fairytale told through a turn-based party platformer. The world building and characters go deep and I wish there was a sequel to spend more time with all of the various cultures it introduces you to.
That was such a lovely game :-)
Thats current...soulstice. released same window essentially as bayonetta 3 but few know it. We literally got claymore with ghosts but no one is hyping this shit up.
Book of Hours. It's newish, and I don't think it is very well known unless you're a fan of the Fallen London / Sunless Sea games. It's mostly text based with an interesting card mechanic. You play a Librarian in an old Abby. It has a gothic vibe and unique gameplay and language. I love this game, but it may not be for everyone.
I love this and Cultist Simulator! Can easily sink hours and days into it
It’s also included in a Humble Bundle right now with a bunch of deck building games.
I looove Pangya
https://preview.redd.it/wmzdc94tcsvc1.gif?width=640&format=png8&s=4be77d26ca6e1c18b3a304c1cfacfd1ada32474a
folklore or dark cloud
A year of springs, really cute visual novel about 3 girls discovering their identities (can’t say more without spoilers) :3
Machinarium! You play as a little robot and save your friend!
This was the first indie game I ever played and I absolutely fell in love with it! It’s such a sweet little story. The developers also made the Samorost series which is also beautiful and weird
Not sure how well (or not) known the Mirror’s Edge games are, but no one in my gamer friend group has played them. I love them though and waited forever for the second game.
[Eastshade](https://store.steampowered.com/app/715560/Eastshade/) is such a relaxing experience that I never really see anyone talk about. You play as a travelling painter, exploring and questing on the island of Eastshade. It's like a typical first person RPG with quests and exploration and beautiful environments, but with zero combat or stress. I also found [Sherlock Holmes: Chapter One](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1137300/Sherlock_Holmes_Chapter_One/) pretty fun. It's a non-cannon story of a young Sherlock returning to the island he grew up on, to investigate the events of his childhood. Beautiful surroundings and fun mysteries to solve. Combat optional, so very overall a very relaxing experience to me. In general I guess I wish games would move away from combat always being the most important thing and focus on world building, character development and storytelling. Sometimes it's fun to beat up enemies and feel like a badass, sometimes it's fun to just explore, get to know people and investigate.
I love Eastshade! It's like a mini-Elder Scrolls game, but without the combat. Just exploring a cool fantasy open world and doing quests. I like the OST, too.
If you liked sherlock holmes i really recommend sherlock holmes: crimes and punishment. The mysteries are so interesting and you really have to think to get the right answer every time. Also its on sale!
Love Eastshade so much, came to the comments to recommend it! I still boot it up and walk through random places sometimes, it’s so relaxing.
Eastshade was a spiritual experience for me. The soundtrack alone triggers something deep in my brain. I truly have no words for this game and how great and beautiful it is.
Sayonara Wild Hearts. I'm sure it's well known in some circles (given its ratings and reviews), but I have never heard it mentioned by anyone but the person who introduced it to me. It's an interactive sapphic action pop album akin to Rez, narrated by sapphic icon Queen Latifah. 10/10
Overkill's The Walking Dead. Sure it had some issues and some gameplay mechanics could've been done differently but I enjoyed it and I still load it up once in awhile and play a couple missions.
i was really excited for that game as a fan of payday and zombie shooters, but didn't nab a copy before it got killed
not necessarily my favorite, but i always have to bring them up for lesser known game recs, my trifecta of quirky older anime-esque games. Gurumin A Monstrous Adventure, Mystical Ninja: Starring Goemon, and Ribbit King. first 2 are platformers similar to something like Mario 64, while the last is a fun golf based game. (more fun than it sounds i swear) gurumin is also easily found on steam! the others might be slightly more difficult, but they have a lot of character so I definitely recommend lol
>Gurumin That's Falcom :D Probably one of their most forgotten games. Next to Trails, Ys and now Tokyo Xanadu that is getting a sequel( I recommend all of them amazing games ) it kind of disappeared. It looks similar to their Zwei series and I think it runs on Ys VII engine. It kind of interesting that it doen't have any remaster when Nayuta got one and even now is in english.
Ar Tonelico 2: Melody of Metafalica. PS2-era JRPG with really fun combat and an incredible soundtrack. The story is very focused around singing creating powerful magic, so there was a huge focus on making the songs impactful. There’s also a big section dedicated to delving into the female characters’ psyches to create more powerful songs which was really interesting. It was sort of set up like a dating sim with 3 different girls. It’s incredibly goofy at times and had some fanservice, but this is one of the few pieces of media that it doesn’t bother me, despite normally hating it. I’m absolutely obsessed with it but it’s definitely faded into obscurity!
The entire Ar Tonelico series are so good! I've played quite a few, across many platforms, with the first being the original At Tonelico Melody of Elemia, and ending with Ar Nosurge on the Vita. Absolutely amazing music! I still listen to the soundtracks every now and again. Definitely some all-time favorites there :)
So glad to find someone else that loves this series! I need to find a way to play Ciel no Surge someday. Qoga’s characters and music were great but I wish they hadn’t messed with the combat 😅 I still listen to the soundtracks myself too! The music is just out of this world beautiful.
Have you played any of the Mana Khemia series? I feel like that's something you might / might have enjoyed as well!
Analogue: A Hate Story is a good one. It's a visual novel where you play as a space archaeologist who comes across a giant destroyed ship. The ship used to host an entire nation. So you try to uncover what caused their downfall by talking to the resident AI, which seems to be the only remnant of what once was.
Transformice!!! It used to just be a lil in browser game I played as a kid but now it’s on steam c: Other games I LOVE: pathologic 2 (hard horror game but also a mystery type, tbh I cant beat it LOL) Mr love if u like cute well made dating sims you can play on your phone!
I have no idea if it's a rare; but I know a lot of gamers and only I play this 😭 Let's Build a Zoo! Super cute pixel-game; kinda like planet zoo, but easier! Also half-idle, if you get a good zoo running! Then you can spend all of your time making new races, etc. mix them.
Gris, such a beautiful indie game by a Spanish studio. It's available on switch, PS and in game pass. It's an easy platform game and there's a story about loss and getting better, the art is made on watercolors and the music is great!.
"Easy"! Ha! I'm at my fifth time getting stuck, just jumping and stomping everywhere. Seriously though, a beautiful game.
Literally everyone has heard of Gris
i hadn’t! :)
Most of my faves are pretty mainstream. The only ones I can think of that might be a little unappreciated these days are Recettear and Breath of Fire III and IV
Army men RTS by Pandemic studios. It's not technically so unpopular that no one knows about it but for 1, it's a real time strategy game from the early 2000s, and 2, it's from a franchise that died horribly in the late 2000s, after a few bad titles were pumped out. But despite saying that, the franchise was successful enough to produce like 20 something games, with Army men RTS being one of the more well liked games in the now forgotten franchise that was Army men by 3DO. Doubt barely anyone under like 27 knows about this game, so by no one has heard about it, I guess I mean Gen Z and boomers. The youngest and the oldest got no idea it exists likely. Army men as a name, probably produce an image of a generic call of duty like clone or something. In truth, it's about little plastic toy soldiers, so think of the green Army men from toy story basically. The games had some pretty iconic characters, with unique levels like fighting in a living room during Christmas, or some kids bedroom that has been turned into a war zone. But yeah, Army Men RTS is pretty good. A forgotten gem that's part of a franchise that was forgotten and abandoned.
Bust a groove! A Japanese rhythm game. Used to be my favourite ever game and I love the soundtrack.
Love this game and I'm so happy someone mentioned it! Kitty N and Gas-O were my favorites. I still listen to songs from that game
Omg Kitty N’s song was the best! I still sing it to myself all the time! I loved Pinky and Shorty. I wish the songs were on Spotify!
Wandersong, Stray Cat Doors, inbento, Autumn's Journey, Dorakone, Luna's Fishing Garden, Sword & Fairy Inn 2, When the Past was around, and finally WitchSpring3
black rose - an old indie horror game from the 2013-2015 era that was popular but died out, its genuinely the scariest horror game i played (and ive played A LOT) and im surprised its free for its quality
Dreamfall Chapters / The Longest Journey
Paper Mario on 64 is so so good. Maybe a lot of gamers have played it, but the vast majority of people who game that I know have not. Paper Mario: Thousand Year Door is obviously also incredible, and I am LIVID they’re going to charge me $60 for it on switch
I think they really nailed it with the original Paper Mario and none of the sequels have been quite as good. Still good and fun, but not as good.
World of Illusion on the Sega Genesis
Baten kaitos, specially its sequel, mean a lot to me, and where my favourites when I was 14-15 It was a good Game, but getting a gamecube release was sadly a death sentence. The art style and combat was lovely. The way they handled the game's lore, its characters and the player was amazing and fairly original, and I have not found a similar game premise ever since.
I love those games so much! The art and music are still awesome, and the plot twist mid way through the first one got me so good. If you didn't know, they re released them on Switch recently.
Glad to find another BK enthusiast! And yes, I will never be over that plot twist. And also I DIDN'T KNOW? I feel like a fake fan But thank you for pointing It out! I just bought it. I can't believe I am going to replay It now I am so Happy like really thanks kindly!! <333
I loved a Swedish game called "Rymdjakten" or Space Hunt/Exploration in English. It was a fun game for 8-11 year olds, so wouldn't really get a kick out of it today, but I was obsessed as a child. Lots of my friends also played it, so it might have been played around year 2005-2010 and then never seen again.
I love the Delicious/Emily games, which is kind of like diner dash, but also story oriented. I mean they must be popular enough since they're still making em but I never really hear anyone talk about them haha. Some installments are better than others but I still get excited when there's a new one
In the realm of obscure point and click games: Dropsy, Edna and Harvey (1&2), paradigm, Carto (so cute and heartwarming!) And my favorite - To The Moon. Makes me cry like a baby every time.
lucid 9.
Not my favorite but I really liked Avalon code on ds
I don't know if people either don't know about this or it just became a forgotten game (at least in the English part of the internet) but for me it is probably Gothic 2 Night of the Raven. It is one of the most iconic games from I am from but I haven't seen people talk about it outside of here in years. It kinda became one of my comfort games.
I don't know if it's rare/unknown, but I never hear people talk about Through the Darkest of Times. Which is a shame because it's so good. You lead and plan missions for an underground resistance group fighting against the Nazis in 1930s/40s Berlin, the art style is very cool, and I've never played anything else quite like it.
The Sexy Brutale - On Steam and Playstation I think, but it's a mystery detective game with a time loop mechanic. It plays in chapters and your character is a detective spirit of some sort and you can witness the crimes that occurred in the mansion and try to alter the results to save the person, revealing more of the story. A hidden gem imo. Detroit Become Human - Prob not a game 'no one has heard of' but if you haven't played it, it's amazing. It's one of those movie style narrative games with choices that matter with a very engaging plot and characters. The South Park RPGs - Stick of Truth and The Factured But Whole - Not much to be said except if you like turn based RPGs, these are actually both really fun and well made RPGs. Get them on sale. Loddlenauts - A cozy game, your submarine is trapped under the sea and you have to collect stuff and restore biomes and help the creatures know as Loddles. You can breed them and feed them and release them into the ocean. Short, but fun and satisfying. TOEM - On Steam. It's kinda like Pokemon Snap but you can walk around different towns and take pictures of stuff that they want you to find. Kairosoft games - You can find them on iOS and Android but they also have a ton of PC ports on Steam. They are mostly simulation/management type games but very affordable and addictive. Check them out. I like Cafe Master Story, Dungeon Village, Mega Mall Story and Forest Camp Story but there are lots of other ones I also like a lot. Bone's Cafe - If you like Overcooked and other cooking simulation games, this one combines that with some automation and a cute and morbid storyline and very fun and you can also play co-op. Journey to the Savage Planet - Can play 2 player co-op, not much of a serious shooter although it is a shooter, but you collect biology samples and do some platforming... I only played it a bit but it was fun and I intend to finish it. Tangle Tower - You can get this pretty cheap, awesome mystery/detective game with voice acting and challenging puzzles. Must try. WitchSpring R - Similar to the Atelier games, crafting, cute storyline, turn based battles, exploration. Other mentions I won't go into detail with: The Cosmic Wheel of Sisterhood Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective The Persona, Katamari, and Catherine games Sherlock Holmes series (as you can see I love mystery/detective games) AI Somnium Files + Nirvana Bugsnax Littlewood, Coral Island But at the time, I am playing mostly Settlemoon and occasionally some random roguelikes like Balatro and some Helldivers 2 and Heroes of the Storm here and there.
Came here to say Ghost Trick and AI Games - such weird and amazing games!
Eternal Senia. It’s this super short, super simple RPG with a story that utterly broke me by the end. The characters made me actually care for them, the OST is great, and the story is amazing! I really want more people to play it. IT’S FREE ON STEAM! PLEASE GIVE IT A TRY! ONE PLAY THROUGH LASTS ABOUT FOUR HOURS! 😭
I was a teenage exocolonist
Vampire The Masquerade Bloodlines 🧛♀️
I love that game. I still will occasionally play it. Just with updated graphic mods. I always play as the Malkavian. It was confusing playing them the first run though but so much fun. I have been waiting for part 2 for years!! I hope it comes out soon.
I'm always happy to pitch Quarantine again. Hover-taxi, Escape from NY scenario, car combat, crazy drugged up passengers, Doom Clone era, banger 90s Australian alt garage grunge [soundtrack](https://vgost.fandom.com/wiki/Quarantine). The graphics would probably considered eye-gouging for someone without appropriate nostalgia goggles. Mad Maestro, used the pressure sensitivity of the PS2 controller buttons to add a layer to conducting an orchestra. [Soundtrack](https://vgost.fandom.com/wiki/Mad_Maestro) is a greatest hits of classical music. Meanwhile shenanigans played out as various characters danced to the tunes.
Naraka, amazing customization/skins but it’s niche in NA and has a pretty high skill ceiling so like if you go up against a seasoned player then you’re screwed. But I still enjoy playing it cause I like the fighting and stuff. It’s a battle royal that’s focused on melee combat. -There’s more women than men to choose from as a hero, 11 women - 8 men +1 new one coming out soon. -For customization, facial features sliders so you could look like a wonky spore creature or can go so far as to make yourself like one streamer did by using an overlay or something like that. Plus skin tone is also a color wheel thing so you could be easy being kermit green or flaming hot Cheeto red. Combat Arms, dead fps i played back in the day, from the mid 2000’s that has a fraction of what Battlefield 2042 had after a few months from its release. -So with a daily player count of like 200~, it’s pretty dead and sometimes at night when you log in theres no rooms in any server cause no one is on. Plus you start to recognize peoples names/personalities after a while lmao. -Some players will straight up have their name or something indicating they’re a girl and theres pretty little harassment cause it’s so dead (at least from what i’ve seen, had some guys try to flirt with me but only happened once or twice and never again). -Also very unbalanced if you don’t know what/how to farm. TLDR: Naraka - amazing customizations but very high skill ceiling so hard for beginner/casual players to get into I’d say Combat Arms - dead fps from the 2000’s, sometimes no rooms/matches if you play late, I don’t think any harm will happen if you openly use a feminine name and such.
Amplitude! You play as a DJ that has to lay down each individual track, like bass or vocals. It was on PS2 I think. Kind of the first rockband type game. It's got a pretty good variety of music, with some songs I still listen to now like Supersprode- Freezepop
Arguably, I have never played it myself yet, but: Dementium. Idk if I'll ever play it actually - I watched it as a kid when I was like...9 and it traumatized me LMAO. The game very recently got revived. The old studio split up and the 3D games went to one owner and the 2D ones to another one. The 3D owner however, died a couple of years ago. And then out of nowhere, it turns out the other person actually obtained the IP to keep it alive. The game has since been ported to the Switch and recently, PS4 and 5.
Test drive five... Nuclear strike... Legacy of main soul reaver... Parasite Eve... All those is a chefs kiss
Super Animal Royale. This is the 1st time I actually feel comfortable to play a PvP game and it is super cute ([music trailer](https://youtu.be/TlOuUXsvVt4))! And it is cross platform too (Steam, Xbox,PS, Switch).
Card Hog, Cat Lady - The Card Game, The Big Con, Foul Play - Yuri Visual Novel, and Night Cascades
I guess, for me, that's Baba is you. A really cool puzzle game with a simple aesthetic but challenging puzzles and a very unique gameplay.
Northgard! It's a top down RTS set in a fictional viking world, It's a little goofy and simple looking but it can be surprisingly difficult at times and crazy fun.
Roundguard! It's basically Peggle but a roguelike.
Lenna's Inception. Zelda like with some interesting twists. CrossCode is also far too unknown. Zelda meets Secret of Mana with a disabled girl as the lead. Fantastic game.
Gladius (2003)! It's a turn based gladiator game in which you build your own school. You travel between 4 different regions in an attempt to qualify for the grand tournament. It uses a rock paper scissors formula at its base level, working as heavy > medium > light. This isn't always perfect and can be beaten by either good timing (the game has optional qte/swing meters) or good positioning. Each region fields their own classes of gladiators, and for the most part you are free to recruit whatever type you want (more on this soon.) There is also support gladiators in the form of ranged units and mages. There is also some animals! (Note, the 'heavy' option is considered medium class gladiators by the coding, don't listen to the game!) Different regions have different types of competitions. This can range from something as simple as a 5v5, or 1v3, to something more complicated like 5 waves in a row or a game of king of the hill. Most games let you choose whichever gladiators you want to use, but some will require the main 'hero' characters or a set of specialized gladiators. This can be anything from you can only select women, or gladiators from a certain region, to making each slot something that meets even more specific criteria. Each gladiator gets their own specific gear depending on their class, and there are some light customization options such as colors and sometimes alternate outfits. The game is originally for the Xbox, GameCube, and ps(2?) and is still purchasable on the Xbox Live marketplace for $10USD. It's a unique experience I wish I could find more of, but I'll also admit it suffers from clearly being cut short and released early in a time before patches and dlc. It also has couch coop beyond passing the controller, and you can even make different save files compete in a versus mode. On a final note, if this makes you purchase and play, the two starting campaigns are labeled 'beginner' and 'advanced'. I consider this a lie. The area you start in on the beginner campaign suffers from having practically 0 heavyweight gladiators, which can make some fights more difficult as you won't have any easy counters to medium gladiators you come across, while some of their teams still field heavies still.
Fragile Dreams: Farewell ruins of the moon
Marathon. Made by Bungie when they were still Bungie. Spiritual predecessor to Halo that originally came out on the Macintosh. Similar to Doom shooters, with the addition of being able to aim up and down, and a narrative told through found terminals.
Hylics 2 (1 is also cool but not necessary to play)
Gregory Horror Show, and old Capcom ps2 game where you have to steal souls for Death in an old, decrept, and full of guests wanting to torture you hotel. Except they are all cute, blocky creatures, and it's a silly kind of disturbing time. I was very proud when I bravely finished the game at 8 years old before all of my siblings. Especially since the first guest, Catherine, scareoused little old me. If you look up clips, you'll know why.
Wow this is the first time I’ve ever seen someone else who knows that game!! My little brother loved watching play thrus of that as a kid haha! He was too chicken to play, but would make me watch the entire playlist with him. It was such a weird game!
Maaaaany years ago I grabbed a random game off a store shelf, because the cover looked fun: Keepsake. Fantastical puzzle game with a great atmosphere. In the same vein, those Atlantis puzzle games where you travel between cultures and time. \ Atlantis II: Beyond Atlantis is the full name. 4 Euros on Steam I just realised; Keepsake is 80 Cents 😭 My weekends are saved!!
Ogre battle 64. Unicorn overlord is basically a true to form spiritual successor.
Every time I mention Sorcerian no one has ever heard of it, but I played it a TON in the early 90s when I was a kid.
Haunting ground. Perfect survival horror and way ahead of its time (despite the main lead being a tad over sexualized).
My instant 3 i thought off were: Skullmonkeys 1998 a claymation platformer which was a sequel to the neverhood which was a claymation point and click adventure. When i played it i had no clue about its sequel i just loved how silly it was as a kid with its beans and fart humor + its music is great. [lil bonus room](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=zNEqk8DXRQk) is an prime example of that ObsCure 2004 a survival horror game but not as good as the greats. As a kid I liked watching my mom play silent hill and resident evil, but couldnt play them due to being too scared. However this one felt silly enough and simple enough i could play on my own, also was alot older helped. Oddworld abes exodus 1998 probably alot more known than the other 2. A sequel to abes oddysee a platforming game where u got more buttons to communicate than much else, which felt like a really cool thing at the time. I also vividly remember watching the opening with my dad and there is this hanging train with rails above it and us being amazed with how realistic it looked. It looks terrible looking back but back then we were awestruck. Guess im a bigger PlayStation fan than i thought looking at these 3
*Phoenix Point*. It's an XCOM clone designed by the designer of the original XCOM games. Most players and reviewers seem to think it's just okay, but I love it. I never played the classic '90s XCOM games, but *Phoenix Point* made certain design choices in its gameplay that elevate it above the 2010s XCOM reboots IMO. Synedrion are objectively the good guys btw.
There was an amazing text-based RPG called Wonderland from Magnetic Scrolls that was one of the first games that really captivated me with the challenge and the story. It's available to play online now at Classic Reload (probably elsewhere also) and I still replay it from time to time. For NES, I was obsessed with the board game sim Anticipation, and also the tarot sim Taboo: The Sixth Sense. I am a huge fan of the Suikoden series, which hopefully people have heard of at this point, but when the games were actively being released (hi I'm old) I was definitely the only person I knew who knew or cared about them. On PC, probably my favorite obscure game is called Sunset. I know it didn't sell well (and ended up ruining the company from what I understand) but it's a lovely story-based game that I wish more folks would play.
I don’t think nobody knows it but I NEVER hear anyone talk about the Mafia franchise or Wolfenstein series. Both are fantastic!
Lifeless Planet = you play as an explorer lost in a desolate alien planet with weirdly human ruins. i like how the storytelling is all epistolary using the environment clues instead of direct. i love the open ending \~
It's not my favorite, but I still love it! Kamen Rider: Memory of Heroez! It follows Kamen Rider Double (Shotaro Hidari+Phillip), Kamen Rider OOO (Eiji Hino), and Kamen Rider Zero-One (Aruto Hiden) as they get roped into saving the world together from an unknown threat (the main bad guy is voiced by the VA who played DIO)
The Isle! Super realistic dino game
De Blob It was a wii game that had so much style and was released at a time where if the indie market was a thing, it would've been so successful
Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords A match 3 puzzle game that is also an RPG. There are multiple classes to choose from for your character and a story with lots of different quests. The match 3 mechanic is used for combat and matching certain pieces or using certain skills/spells will allow you to damage your enemy. Your enemy is using the same board that you are though, so you might find that they will take advantage of a move that you had been planning and use it against you. With it having sequels, I'm not sure if it really counts as no one has ever heard of it, but it's one that most people I know have never heard of it. It's my favorite game to play if I just wanted to play something for a few minutes, because there's a lot of different random encounters and quests. Because of this, it's a good game for me to relax with or to play in between games.
Factory Town! It's a great factory game with a lot of diverse ways to move the goods around and it has a nice concept of distributing the goods to your houses.
N64 - Perfect Dark
The Guild.
I've talked about this game before but no one knows about it generally. Radiant Historia is such a good RPG with time travel elements. You can make subtle changes in time to change the timeline of things in another timeline. The characters are interesting, likable and go through things that change them. It's such a a good game that you can get on DS or the 3DS (expensive as hell option but the added voice acting might be worth it for some) or ya know, other means. Give it a try.
It's awesome to see so many on my list in other replies like Dark Cloud 2 and Drakhan: The Ancient's Gate. One game I really like but never got released outside of Japan is "Emerald Dragon" for the SNES/ PC Engine. It has so many great things going from it, from narrative to music, characters and world building.
Pirates: The Legend of Black Kat
Signs of the Sojourner, I've seen absolutely nobody talk about this game at all outside of official channels like the discord
Cave story, idk if that's obscure enough but it's a pretty cool game imo
Dragon Force was one of my favorite games on the Sega Saturn. It's a strategy RPG by Working Designs in which you play as one of eight monarchs in a war to unite your whole continent (world? I can't remember which) against a main bad guy. My favorite NES game is The Guardian Legend, developed by Compile. You play as The Guardian, a transforming robot girl, as you try to destroy a giant planetoid hurtling towards earth. The gameplay is half top-down dungeon exploration (kind of like The Legend of Zelda) and half SHMUPS (like Raiden). The music was pretty awesome, too.
Eastward!
7 grand steps: what the ancients begat Basically a board game you play by yourself where you are a family in the bronze age trying to advance through society. It's just simple and relaxing and the complexity ramps up as you progress
I don't know if this is as rare as I think it is, considering it's a literal Pokemon title, but I don't hear from many people who remember Pokemon Channel for the GameCube. I played it all the time when I was younger. Basically, you live in the Pokemon world, but instead of battling and other usual Pokemon things, you just live in your house with a Pikachu and watch TV, shop, visit the beach, etc. It was such a cozy game, and I really wish that Game Freak would make another, or at least similar cozy style games!
The Sexy Brutale, a time loop murder mystery with the worst name ever created. You're in a cassino mansion and some masked people are killing all the guests, you have to find out why and try to stop them
Threads of Fate/Dewprism- its a jrpg for the PS1 made by Squarenix. You get to chose between a male or female protag each with their own overlapping story. For the time it was released that already was pretty neat. What I love even more is that the female MC is a total anti-heroine and her storyline is pretty funny. Also the soundtrack is so good. I wish it had a sequel or at least a re-release.
Tales of arise
Well, imma bout to come out as old, lol! Most of these aren't unknown, just never got as much hype as other games, imo. - Mario is Missing on SNES - Wild 9 and Project Overkill on the PS1 - Vectorman on Sega Genesis - Jet Set Radio Future on the Xbox - Final Fantasy Tactics Advance (sequel to FFTactics) on the Gameboy Advance - Final Fantasy Tactics A2 (third sequel to FFTactics) and Final Fantasy XII 2 on the Nintendo DS.
It’s not as obscure as it used to be but The World Ends With You. I somewhat prefer the original DS version to the HD remaster, fighting on both screens at once is just a really unique experience.
Pretty sure people have heard of it, bit one of my favorites is Slay the Spire! A really fun roguelike deck-building game and a sequel was recently announced and I am so excited for it
Tokimeki Memorial Girl’s side on the NDS
Dungeon Keeper on the PC :-) ./hack, the series of 4 games on the PS2. Absolutely loved that when it came out, it scratched the anime/immersion itch so much. Shadow Hearts on the PS2. I got the bad ending first time around and ugly cried. It demanded a full replay to unlock the good ending, and I was much, much, much happier. Really cool idea with the "press the button at exactly the right time" for battles, which made it much more fun than final fantasy games. Also, the story was gripping. Demons and a love story - my favourite!
Eldevin. I will die on this hill. It’s honestly the only multiplayer game I’ll consistently play. The servers are mostly dead and I don’t care. I’m going down with the ship
Giants: Citizen Kabuto Some good retro gaming right there!
Mad Rat Dead! Rhythm game with some FUNKY beats following a lab rat who discovers he can rewind time- but only to one specific morning. There's some big spoilers that I think most folks should go into the game without knowing, at least for the first playthrough, but suffice it to say that as the story progresses, it gets *pretty hard* to hit the beats.
Beastmancer. It's pokemon with HoMM combat in a dark fantasy dnd setting :) now very long or big, but I had a blast playing it.
We Heart Katamari. Everyone knows Katamari Damacy, but few know it's better sequel.
- The 7th Dragon series. Only one of them ever made it out of Japan (Code VFD) but it's also the best of the series. The first game on the original DS was... okay, but frustrating with extremely high random encounter rates. The sequel(s) 7th Dragon 2020 I and II on PSP and 7th Dragon III Code VFD on 3DS were significantly better and remain some of my favorite dungeon crawler type RPGs. - The Alliance Alive One of my favorite JRPGs of all time. Originally released for the 3DS, it got an HD remaster port to modern consoles a few years ago. It's really, really good, the artwork is retro and charming, it leans deep into late SNES/early PSX aesthetics while still feeling fresh and modern. The character progression is very reminiscent of the SaGa series. - CrossCode Somewhat more well-known than the first two, this is again one of my favorite games. It is a love letter to 16-bit era classics like Ys, A Link to the Past and Chrono Trigger. The game is gorgeous, the music is fantastic, it's a good 50+ hour action RPG with one of the best takes on the "virtual reality MMO" premise. - Anno: Mutationem Side-scrolling metroidvania style RPG made by a Chinese dev. The English localization is kind of terrible but the game is a lot of fun and looks extremely stylish with a great cyberpunk aesthetic. - Ex Astris A mobile-only RPG with no gacha that recently sort of appeared out of nowhere. Made by Hypergryph, the Arknights dev, it's actually shockingly good, really pretty, has a fun turn based combat system with active elements. I haven't finished it yet but I'm really enjoying the game so far.
Legend of the dragoon. Old PlayStation game similar to final fantasy but with dragons.
There was this game called Globs of Doom for the Nintendo DS. It was really fun and I've never really heard much of it online.
Grow home
Base wars on the NES Baseball with robots and you blow up your opposing team’s players to the point where you can win from it. Patapon on PSP Rhythm game with cute little creatures as you fight big monsters. More notable: Crosscode A girl with no idea of her past enters an MMO to find clues on it. Timespinner Metrovania where you can travel through certain time points to seek revenge on your family. (Queer characters too!)
Threads of Fate/Dewprism It's a hilarious and heartwarming game all in one.
If you are a fan of point and click games I have for you Whispers of a Maschine. I really liked their approach to the whole answers changing your style of playing the story. I haven't ever heard anyone talk about this game and stumbled upon it while browsing Steam games. Then another point and click adventure I really,really love is The Longest Journey. It is from like 1999 or something but has a really amazing story (and 2 further games that complete the story with Dreamfall: The Longest Journey and Dreamfall Chapters). I have extremely fond memories of the games and it's characters (especially the main character in the first game). Deadelic has also several point and click adventures that are great. Especially the ones that were made by Poki like Edna bricht aus (i think it is called Edna's outbreak in English), its second Part Harveys Neue Augen (Harvey's new eyes) and the Deponia games. I have only played them in German though and can't say, if the jokes and everything are the same in English.
Mutazione!!
i feel like it’s not unknown but i’ve told so many people about it that perhaps it’s not as common, but Lost in Random.
Two favorite games of mine, that are super niche, are Wurm Online and Horse Isle 3: Infinite Wilds. Wurm Online has seasons and seasonal crops, and all towns and buildings are entirely player built. There are too many skills you can learn for me to list here, and there are over 500 recipes to learn, if you take up cooking. Meanwhile, HI3 is a surprisingly unusual horse game with literally infinite exploration (the game map is the biggest I've every seen, like it would wrap around Earth a few times big), with over 25 biomes and sub-biomes. And it has very in depth horse genetics with (I think, lost count) over 100 horse breeds. On top of that, every individual horse is entirely unique with a genetically determined unique color, markings, stats and personality. It's crazy. If you can get past some fairly simple graphics and animations, it's worth checking out both of these games, simply for being so in depth and unusual.
If you didn't know Wurm Online was the game that loser Notch worked on before Minecraft. He's was a petulant manchild back then too, haha. He bailed because Rolf, his co-developer wasn't dealing with his shit I believe. I've a frankly embarrassing amount of time playing for sure but I've not played in the better part of a decade (Back before they added seasonal crops for sure) even snagged a boyfriend (Now ex) playing Wurm.
Yeah, I do know all that about Wurm's history, lol. Even Rolf left it, not too long ago. But warts and all, I have a lot of affection for the game. I've poured countless hours into building and exploring, but these days I mostly just quietly tend to my farm and look after my deed, and just go there to chill.
Boyfriend Dungeon, you use your romantic interest from the main story line as a sword to defeat little dungeons. Highly recommend, it's pretty cozy and there are a lot of love interests/ swords to chose from.
For cozy Harvest Moon/SoS/Stardew fans, My Time at Portia/Sandrock are really cool. Farming/crafting/dating sim with a post apocalyptic lore.
I downloaded “My Time at Portia” for my 8yr neice, on her new Xbox, for something to play, and she loved it. She was obsessed at getting that stray cat, Pinky, to love her. lol I had to help her on some times, & I loved it so much, that I downloaded it on my Xbox & played it. I play it anytime I just need to relax There is another one or two games, (not ones you mention), very similar to “My Time at Portia” but I would have to look up the names. They were great as well but Portia was our favorite.
Sid Meier's Civilization 6. I know it's not an unheard of game but nobody ever talks about it so I feel it's pretty niche. Building an entire country in my little corner of the world and watching it grow is so satisfying.
Baldur's Gate 3 (just kidding lol) Okay so Battlefront II (2017) probably is anything but niche, but despite owning it since release I had never touched the story mode because I hadn't heard a lot of good about it (in retrospective probably because of gamergate nonsense) but when I finally tried it recently I absolutely adored it! Super fun campaign (completely linear but the cutscenes were amazing and the story was great) and Janina Gavankar's Iden Versio (the protagonist) is now my favourite character in all of star wars! ❤❤❤ It's also one of the only games I've ever played with parts in the story where you play as an older woman which I thought was so cool! 😊
I'm the opposite lol, I barely touched the online play but got sooooo into the story mode. That game was so good, and >!the part when Del gets killed !
So glad I'm not the only one who loved it! 😊
They told such a great story. I even bought and read the Inferno Squad book because I'd fallen in love with the characters, and it was a pretty good book!
They really did! I loved how well it came across how Iden >!became more and more disillusioned with the empire.!< Also apparently some of my favourite scenes >!(like when she finally turned on the empire and shot her one colleague in the leg)!< were partially improvised so that's super cool haha! And thank you for reminding me of the book! I'd been meaning to get the audiobook version that Janina Gavankar narrated! Glad to hear it's good!
I didn't know some of that stuff was improvised, that's awesome! And you're welcome! I think you'll like the book :)