Tell me what is the most recent game that you played that could be considered obscure to the average person. For me it would have to be cdda/cataclysm:Dark Days Ahead. This screenshot was made by me if you’re wondering.
Check out Caves Of Qud. Is a super well developed rogue like(lite?), kinda feels like a crazy mix of dwarf fortress, dark souls, and morrowind.
Takes a bit to figure out what the heck is going on, what it wants from you, and how to stop dying brutally to the most simple things, but once you get your toes into it it feels like it has massive potential for exploration and story building.
It has some modes that are more forgiving, but dying in this game is weirdly satisfying in a way I can’t describe, I’m not even usually interested in rogue lites but this one is amazing.
It will also run on a potato which is fantastic
Been in early access for a little over 8 years, and it has been fun to see it evolve and grow over that time. They just announced that version 1.0 will release next year!
Oh sweet! I really love these visually low fidelity games that have a lot of dev time behind them, so much to explore!
I hope their 1.0 brings in a bunch of people like the dwarf fortress steam release did for them
It’s on my wishlist and I don’t remember why. It sounds incredible haha.
Does it have an “end”?
I haven’t played it enough to really know, but I don’t think so. Its an open ended sandbox, there are quests and some of them seem pretty significant so you could set a character to a task and retire them once it’s done as an “end” haha
My best run ended when I unphased while still passing a wall. I died and got an achievement for breaking the laws of physics lol
I played the game with the steam controller and loved it
Don’t have my pc anymore. I really wish the game would come out on console
Hahaha that’s a great achievement. No matter how my characters die I never feel mad about it or like it was unfair or unwarranted which is usually what puts me off of roguelike games.
Someone else mentioned they are putting out a 1.0 release pretty soon! Maybe they will shift from feature development to porting it to consoles, I would love to get it for the switch
Yeah same I’ve laughed more often than not when I died
I haven’t played for about a year now so probs a lot go new features too.
And yeha. Tangledeep works really well on switch so it would be great to add Qud to my collection
Any suggestions for playing with Steam Controller / Deck inputs? I find roguelikes difficult and sometimes frustrating to play without a keyboard, especially moving diagonally or avoiding moving multiple spaces. Keyboard allows precise inputs and often the keys are mnemonic as well (I for Inventory, M for Map, O for Open etc).
Cataclysm on Lemmy? Hell yeah, shout out to Rycon one of like 3 total Cataclysm content creators. As for obscure games I’ve played…
I guess it’s more of a sub genre but the rhythm + other game genre like for example the most popular being Hi-Fi Rush and Crypt of the Necrodancer. But have you heard of Metal Hellsinger or BPM: Bullets Per Minute? All excellent games in my opinion that take a game genre like in BPM’s case the rougelike genre and changes things up by mixing it in with rhythm game mechanics.
Levelhead is essentially the “Mario Maker on PC” people have been begging for and it released with 0 fanfare. The game is amazing and the devs put a lot of effort into it (including a ~10 hour campaign) but it just never got that many players.
There’s still a ton of fantastic levels and a semi-active community, the game is a lot of fun, but in terms of most underrated games it’s definitely up there.
Sounds interesting, looked it up and it’s already in my library, must have been in a bundle. Thanks for the recommendation, I’ll try it. Check out N++, it’s an excellent platformer with thousands of levels as well as online scoreboard/replays and level creation/sharing: https://store.steampowered.com/app/230270/N_NPLUSPLUS/
I do like N++ but I think it’s a bit too minimalist for me. The levels all blend together and there isn’t that much variety.
Hm, I really like the minimalism, it’s clean and easy to read. I actually think there is tremendous variety in the levels and applaud the devs for their creativity, although visually they may seem similar at first glance.
Probably Ultima ratio regum, found it on tig source, I have no idea how to actually play it, but it’s got big ambitions and is already pretty impressive. https://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=22176.0
Shadows of Forbidden Gods - a map-based strategic game where you play as an Old God seeking to destroy the world. You mostly interact with the world through your agents and the forces of good will seek to stop you so you need to sow chaos and strife in the world, cause war, plague, famine and death to keep heroes occupied until you bring about the end.
The UI is… not good. But the game ends up being really fun anyway and there is a good payoff of seeing long laid plans come to fruition.
Since I got started with my CompTIA Security+ studies, I thought it’d be fun to look around for hacking simulators to try and reinforce some of the concepts I’m learning. So I’ve been playing HackNet & HackMUD. I’ve also been playing the open beta for Hawked (Fortnite looking extraction shooter).
If you want to go classic, try Uplink! It’s made a decade before, and focuses more on movie hacking.
You might also enjoy bitburner which is free on steam. It’s a JavaScript based hacking game with a focus on automation.
I grabbed bitburner too! Still working through the beginners guide and I should probably watch some videos on JavaScript tbh
Vagrus - The Riven Realms.
Essentially it’s Oregon Trail game in fantasy world. But effectively, it consists of many different genres. There’s caravan management, choice making, strategy, tactical combat, profit making, cRPG… It’s highly complicated, challenging but also very fun.
I played this one a bit! It was fun at first, but eventually it kinda dragged. Still enjoyed my time with it though!
I just played through Dark Messiah of Might and Magic and it was really good. Sold less than 500k copies. Fuck the entire catacombs though.
I loved every second of it and the multiplayer made fun as well. Especially that you could make nearly endless physics experiments with your enemies. It was utilizing the source engine really well.
My favorite thing to do was just use the ice spell on the floor and launch enemies off of tall cliffs, the whole section where you’re scaling the mountain was so fun. The secret weapons you got for exploring well were super fun. Just need to finish the last section and install that new game + mod and give it another go
I love that game! I even got my son to enjoy it too. I prefer to play in curses though.
The most recent game I’ve been playing is Ghosts of Tabor. I’ve been enjoying VR lately quite a lot. For example: https://youtu.be/-3N9q06petk
TIS-100. I saw a friend play it and got it shortly afterwards. Essentially, you have a bunch of small compute units with a few available instructions each that can pass data to adjacent ones and have to solve “puzzles”, which are essentially assembly programming assignments. Despite the game being rather new, distributed e.g. via steam and gog, all you get is a full screen console line interface to code in. I love it.
Shenzhen IO is essentially the sequel and another great buy if you want to add circuitry to the mix.
All of the Zachtronics games are great.
I feel like Dominions 5 might fit. It’s a pretty niche game; very deep, but I don’t know too many others that play it.
Suzerain, probably. It’s a political visual novel where you play as the newly elected President of a country called Sordland and have to lead it through your first term. Time period is early-Cold War, and the country is recovering after a period of civil war and instability.
It’s got some basic strategy mechanics, and is extremely choice heavy. But at the end of the day, it’s a visual novel, and gameplay consists exclusively of reading and choosing from a series of offered choices. It nails that, though. If you like processing through really difficult choices as a video game thing, this game does it better than almost any other.
On par with The Life and Suffering of Sir Brante.
Not sure if it was obscure in the past, but the present day player base is miniscule. Everquest. I spent 7 hours to get 2 levels.
Ding 3?
I’ve been playing a sailing simulator lite game called Sailwind. The gist of it is that you get missions to transport cargo to either nearby islands in your archipelago group or to another archipelago far away with your sailboat. It teaches the basics of sailing a purely sail driven boat and astral/solar navigation. Really fun for a chill boat game.
One of my favourite things in Valheim is the sailing, Sailwind sounds amazing, thanks for the recommendation!
Kentucky Route Zero would probably classify as obscure. It’s not really a game, to be honest, more of a point-and-click exploration visual novel.
What do I like so much about the game and what makes it unique? Well, I personally love games that are immersive and make me feel the experience. And this particular game is probably the closest out there in terms of making you feel like you are in a dream. It’s a very weird concept, I know, but it is the only way I can describe it.
The story itself starts with a man named Conway, who is driving a delivery for Lisette’s Antiques - the last one, as the store will close forever soon. As he asks a gas station attendant for the way, he is directed to Kentucky highway zero. This road is unlike a regular road, as it goes through the caves underneath the surface, and navigating it is another matter entirely. On his way, he meets several strange people.
The story is about being lost, loss, debt, and camaraderie. How it goes is mostly set in stone, but you do influence some of the world around you as the player. I think most gamers are probably interested in obscure mechanics rather than stories, and this game lacks actual “game” mechanics. So it is certainly not for everyone. However, it is among my favourites in terms of story/experience, and I’m not the only one that enjoys it.
