Obscure Games That Deserve More Attention?

[heliumlamb]

i am a normal human who has, so far, exchanged at least 15 united states dollars for 30 credits of Money Puzzle Exchanger. (many more credits have been played elsewhere, where i have not inserted the money. my deepest apologies, sakura....). solo play only babey. as mightdealer when i want to assert my dominance to all the non-money puzzle exchanger-playing patrons of the space as Note Bank cackles through the Stereo-Of-The-Art sound coming from above astro city's monitor.

[elborbahquarama]

1 hour ago, DoomGappy said:

Iji is a platformer shooter that has an intricate gun upgrade system and interesting story. The feeling of playing the game is one of despair and desolation. It's available for free, but it feels like a ripoff, honestly. 

Curiously, just found that Remar has made some Doom levels, I'll have to try them out. 

oooooh i completely forgot he had this on his website, going to download those and play them right away, i also really like iji, very impressive stuff with bad ass music and the null driver is an awesome touch, this and knytt are some of the classics i'm the most fond of from the amateur scene in the second half of the 2000s

[chomorkuz]

ENCHAIN is a really fun platformer shooter where you play as a dude that rises from the dead, you have a lamp that acts as a grappling hook and a way to kill enemies, 10/10 (don't know how obscure it is though)

Edited May 31 by chomorkuz

[LavaWave]

A few that got in my mind right now are

 

Drowned God: Conspiracy of the ages

 

The White Chamber

 

LSD: Dream Emulator

 

The first 2 are point and click adventure games, Drowned God is a very surreal and obscure game worth checking out, it's like a fever dream, I haven't seen anything that captures it's essence.

 

The White Chamber is sorta like Silent Hill psychological horror.

 

LSD Dream Emulator is like the predecessor of Yume Nikki.

[quakis]

5 hours ago, whybmonotacrab said:

I actually just made a list of about 60 hidden gems I've played over the years with descriptions of each in the notes. They are almost all modern indie games too!

Nice list, have many of these either in my library or wishlist so need to get around to actually playing them. I'm now kicking myself for not bringing up CrossCode for my initial list, excellent game that one. I love the tight parity between action and puzzle aspects, how it introduces a new mechanic and goes real indepth with it during the dungeon runs. Game expects you to get a good grasp on these abilities especially once it mixes them up with other mechanics and things get a lot more difficult. Really looking forward to their next work.

 

How is Islands of the Caliph? I've tried one of their earlier work, Star Explorers, which felt a little undercooked and too simple overall when I played it, so have been hesitant on jumping on this one for now.

[Lewonx]

I have played lost of obscure games and here are some gems:

 

Necrovision and Necrovision: Lost Company (PC) - two FPS games set in WW1 with demons. The game basically combines Call of Duty's graphics, Doom's enemies and Half-Life's combat.

 

Shaman King: Master of Spirits 2 (GBA) - action platformer with some Metroidvania elements based on an old anime. Easily the best game of it's genre released on the system. The boss fight and even some normal enemy fights can reach full anime craziness level.

 

Dead Hell (PC) - a Flash game where you fight a bunch of enemies on an elevator. One of the best Flash games I've played, despite that almost no one heard about it.

 

Crazy Cats (Java phone) - This game is hard to describe. It's similar to old arcade games like Mario Bros, where you are on one screen and have defeat all enemies, except this is not an endless game, it has different levels and an ending. You play as a dog and have to defeat a bunch of cats and, later, other animals, and you defeat them by changing gravity. 

 

 

[Mr Masker]

2 hours ago, chomorkuz said:

ENCHAIN is a really fun platformer shooter where you play as a dude that rises from the dead, you have a lamp that acts as a grappling hook and a way to kill enemies, 10/10 (don't know how obscure it is though)

I think I briefly played the demo of that a while back. Couldn't get far into it then, but maybe I'll give it another shot. I think it also partially got lost in the long, long, long, LONG list of Retro FPS games. Grappling Hook looks cool though, so that's a unique thing, I'll give it a go.

 

41 minutes ago, Lewonx said:

 

Necrovision and Necrovision: Lost Company (PC) - two FPS games set in WW1 with demons. The game basically combines Call of Duty's graphics, Doom's enemies and Half-Life's combat.

 

This feels like one of those games you'd see at an old E3 while you're waiting for them to talk about the next Halo game. Then you find it at a Game store while looking for said next Halo game on the shelves.

 

The screenshots look like some sort of WW1 F.E.A.R hybrid, looks fairly entertaining actually. Price is good too, on the list it goes.

Edited May 31 by Mr Masker

[Zerofuchs]

4 hours ago, DoomGappy said:

Iji is a platformer shooter that has an intricate gun upgrade system and interesting story. The feeling of playing the game is one of despair and desolation. It's available for free, but it feels like a ripoff, honestly. 

Curiously, just found that Remar has made some Doom levels, I'll have to try them out. 

This was well over a decade ago for me so my memory is fuzzy, but if I remember right, if you manage a full pacifist run, there is a good ending.
What also sticks in my memory is the ternary number system you learnt about through reading logs.
Also the game that introduced me to VNV Nation, through the depressing as hell ending song being a cover of Further. 

 

[ConMan3222]

Chasm: The Rift (1997), a time-traveling QUAKE-style FPS by the Ukrainian developer Action Forms. The game is graphically impressive, because despite using 3D models, the level design/geometry is all 2.5D like DooM. Also, chunks of the enemies' flesh breaks off once shooting at any part of their body (shoulders are more noticeable). The game is, like I mentioned before, has a time-traveling plot, like QUAKE was going to have. Did I mentioned that it is fun and has a NightDive-like remaster on Steam, GOG, PS4/PS5 and Nintendo Switch?

[whybmonotacrab]

6 hours ago, quakis said:

How is Islands of the Caliph? I've tried one of their earlier work, Star Explorers, which felt a little undercooked and too simple overall when I played it, so have been hesitant on jumping on this one for now.

Mechanically it's pretty shallow, but it does exploration and atmosphere really well.

[vanilla_d00m]

StarCraft BroodWar.  The game used to be so confusing, my friends didn’t like it and where more into FPS type games.  Yes it’s slow.. but it helped me learn a thing or two about the word patience.

 

 

 

Edited June 1 by vanilla_d00m

[ALilGrayBoi]

In 2017-2019 cant remember exactly when, I played an RPG called Teeny Titans. Its based on the teen titans reboot. I replayed it recently and I'd say it's actually a decent game. It's a little too on the easy side but it has neat gameplay mechanics I haven't seen in any other RPG. Try it out, don't let the teen titans tie in deter you from playing it

[Maribo]

On 5/31/2024 at 9:33 AM, whybmonotacrab said:

I actually just made a list of about 60 hidden gems I've played over the years with descriptions of each in the notes. They are almost all modern indie games too!

Nice list, I see a few things in here that I've been meaning to get to, or things I've dabbled with and haven't managed to find the motivation to sit down and play through. Lost in Vivo, and Paratopic are firmly in "I will probably love this if I can ever get around to them" territory.

 

Some stuff:

2:22 AM - Hazy dreams, long forgotten memories, and old VHS tapes.

Intercontinental - Death imminent.

I Was a Teenage Exocolonist - It only feels appropriate to put this here at the start of pride month. Hope springs eternal.

Demonizer - Shmup for demon girl fans.

A Year of Springs - Compilation three cute VNs.

Smile for Me - Talk to people. Make them feel just a little better.

Heaven Will Be Mine - Loves lies crushing.

Diaries of a Spaceport Janitor - What a horrible life to have a curse.

[Artman2004]

Schwarzerblitz. A free fighting game I found while searching for game engines.

 

[Doom64guy]

Since this game hasn't have a Wikipedia article yet, I think this can be considered obscure enough even though it's still quite recent.

 

Shame, because the game's idea is very interesting IMO.

 

 

Edited June 2 by Doom64guy

[Daytime Waitress]

On 6/1/2024 at 3:51 AM, chomorkuz said:

ENCHAIN is a really fun platformer shooter where you play as a dude that rises from the dead, you have a lamp that acts as a grappling hook and a way to kill enemies, 10/10 (don't know how obscure it is though)

 

I quite enjoyed Gloomwood and Ultrakill's weird little spartan hybrid when the demo was released all those years ago - hope he gets some of the newer stuff playable this year.

 

On 6/1/2024 at 12:04 PM, whybmonotacrab said:

Mechanically it's pretty shallow, but it does exploration and atmosphere really well.

 

Thanks for the Caliph overview (and that list in general) - I pretty much expected exactly that when I installed the demo, but haven't got around to it yet.

Edited June 2 by Daytime Waitress

[Alper002]

VIVIDLOPE is an arcade-y puzzle game. It's about coloring in tiles on a 3-dimensional shape by walking around on it, while also avoiding enemies. It's also kinda cute.

 

It's a relatively simple game which manages to have a lot of variety in its levels. Might frustrate sometimes, but not so much that it isn't satisfying to play IMO. Just don't take it lightly, it does get quite challenging by the end.

There's also a level editor that I have yet to try out, and a fair amount of custom levels (which I also have yet to try). There's a lot to do in the game even without that, though.

[Zerofuchs]

I realise I haven't actually mentioned any games, just responded to one so...

 

If it's an obscure game that deserves more attention... Noctis IV, which nobody can tell me wasn't a fairly strong influence on Sean Murray.
A bit hard to get now since Fottifoh's site seems to have faded into the web graveyard, but Noctis IV Plus still seems to be around on Github, which has some extra qol and compatibility effort.

 

 

It's basically a DOS powered space exploration sim. With planetary surface exploration, and a ship that's all interior. You fly around an ancient galaxy seeking your lost people the Fenoxians, refuelling between jumps, categorising and naming and writing notes for different stars in the galaxy. Very serene. Very difficult to get working on modern PCs.

It now has a relatively proper spiritual successor in the form of Star Explorers (continuing the low fidelity, tranquil explorer tradition) and No Man's Sky (turning it all up to AAA, for better and worse).

I don't know if I'd personally recommend Noctis IV to anyone not already heavily into retro gaming AND space games, for most I'd rather advise Star Explorers as both still being developed for, and easier to get into. Or No Man's Sky, if pixels and PS1 grade textures aren't your shindig.

[Wahrnehmungskrieg]

On 5/31/2024 at 7:25 PM, heliumlamb said:

[...] Money Puzzle Exchanger. [...]

Actual fucking genius name for an arcade game.

 

There are many many (relatively obscure) falling-block-esque puzzle games triyng to evade the purity of the Tetris mould better than Pajitnov's attempts after his divine inspiration; I think the most interesting I've seen have been Soldam and Sen-Know (the multiplayer strategies being developed in the latter are amazing and almost parallel the unrelenting aesthetic of the game itself).

Edited June 2 by Wahrnehmungskrieg

[heliumlamb]

12 hours ago, Wahrnehmungskrieg said:

Actual fucking genius name for an arcade game.

 

There are many many (relatively obscure) falling-block-esque puzzle games triyng to evade the purity of the Tetris mould better than Pajitnov's attempts after his divine inspiration; I think the most interesting I've seen have been Soldam and Sen-Know (the multiplayer strategies being developed in the latter are amazing and almost parallel the unrelenting aesthetic of the game itself).

exchanger is absolutely insane imo, with a ridiculous pace that rivals TGM in 20g imo. it doesn't have an autoshift, not even on the ps1 conversion, so every sideways movement has be be input individually, get ready to tear up some levers. unfortunately FACE got sued into into nonexistence by data east because it can be perceived as an unashamed clone of magical drop. i honestly think it's leagues better than magical drop and more of an iterative evolution, like magical drop meets a number combining puzzle like 2048 (it's better than both) but i'm not versed at all in JP copyright stuff let alone united states copyright stuff.

also recommend toaplan's teki paki for an interesting falling block puzzler that is more about matching colors than clearing lines. as well as cave's puzzle uo poko and puzzle! mushihimetama for some devious single-input color-matching puzzle games, they play more like a parabolic puzzle bobble with the field coming up from the bottom, and the balls effected by gravity. seeing reco joyously hug the bugs that you rescue in mushihimetama makes me feel emotions that people like neil druckmann and david cage will spend the rest of their careers trying and failing to do.

[Plerb]

I know of lots of obscure PC games from the 90s to early 2000s, and I could post about them for hours, but I don't feel like doing that so here's a post of mine from a few months ago about a couple of personal favorites.

 

[Daytime Waitress]

8 hours ago, heliumlamb said:

also recommend toaplan's teki paki for an interesting falling block puzzler that is more about matching colors than clearing lines.

 

Was gonna post about that precisely because you brought up MPE, even though I've only just recently been introduced to it myself (through the carefully-curated and completely free port M2 packed in with their Toaplan rereleases). I feel that Teki-Paki does just enough different to a lot of the big marquee puzzle titles that you have to rewire your brain in order to play it:

 

- colours can link be linked diagonally, rather than just cardinally

- there are initially six colours (with a few more added at later levels) and that creates just that little bit more overhead when it comes to keeping your eye out for what's about to pop

- chains can free up a huge amount of space and create breathing room, but the big points are in destroying more than one colour simultaneously

- you also have to allocate space for screen-clearing bombs

- drop speed alternates between slow and fast - in waves, not totally at random, but a speed burst can make a lot of difference when you're already hurting for real estate

- drop placement is also randomised, meaning the blue/orange/yellow you need on the left might drop on the right because fuck you

- despite that last caveat, the game does appear to give you exactly what you need a lot of the time, but the onus is on you shifting it across and rotating it accordingly

 

And if all that sounds like a lot to juggle, note that it's all tied together by a robomechanical aesthetic with an appropriately harsh and pulsating soundtrack just discordant enough to strike panic into you, but not entirely unmelodic. In fact, I can't recall another puzzle game seemingly taking so much glee in making its players uncomfortable and forcing them into errors. But like the best of the genre, it sews everything together on the promise that maybe your next run won't be so shit and so you should definitely drop another credit in.

[Redneckerz]

23 hours ago, Zerofuchs said:

I realise I haven't actually mentioned any games, just responded to one so...

 

If it's an obscure game that deserves more attention... Noctis IV, which nobody can tell me wasn't a fairly strong influence on Sean Murray.
A bit hard to get now since Fottifoh's site seems to have faded into the web graveyard, but Noctis IV Plus still seems to be around on Github, which has some extra qol and compatibility effort.

 

 

It's basically a DOS powered space exploration sim. With planetary surface exploration, and a ship that's all interior. You fly around an ancient galaxy seeking your lost people the Fenoxians, refuelling between jumps, categorising and naming and writing notes for different stars in the galaxy. Very serene. Very difficult to get working on modern PCs.

It now has a relatively proper spiritual successor in the form of Star Explorers (continuing the low fidelity, tranquil explorer tradition) and No Man's Sky (turning it all up to AAA, for better and worse).

I don't know if I'd personally recommend Noctis IV to anyone not already heavily into retro gaming AND space games, for most I'd rather advise Star Explorers as both still being developed for, and easier to get into. Or No Man's Sky, if pixels and PS1 grade textures aren't your shindig.

This is execellent. I was aware of Star Explorers, but a DOS predecessor with several community versions? Sign me up. This is the kind of game i'd love to see here, so thank you.

[Austrian Oak]