New survey! In the past we've talked about card games and visual novels. It's been a blast seeing everyone's recommendations in the comments section.
So here's a new informal survey for you all: what are some indie games that you love that you feel like most people don't talk about? What indie games do you wish got more attention than they do?
Many of us have heard of the Stardews and Hades of the world. Give a shout-out to a lesser-known gem, I'd love to check them out.
Knytt Underground is the culmination of a long series of gameplay and narrative experiments by developer Nifflas. While it boasts a simple, gentle, and sometimes beautiful aesthetic, it also drip-feeds the player some surprisingly deep and nuanced characterization. This is helped by a rock-solid control scheme that, frankly, was my benchmark for platformers until I played Celeste.
i second this on all accounts. Knytt Underground was, for some time, my primary answer when asked what my favourite video game was
I would also love to see more discussion of Gorogoa, an absolutely gorgeous puzzle game that really needs to be experienced to be understood. Part of the trouble, I think, is that Gorogoa says what it's trying to say so clearly and so wordlessly that "writing a review" or otherwise discoursing about it feels like gilding the lily.
I feel a little silly recommending games like Fez and To The Moon because they were a big deal when released, but at the same time, indie games are much more prone to vanishing down memory holes, especially if the developers responsible for them aren't still banging their drum all these years later. I'm kind of shocked by how often I mention them offhand in the context of "indie gaming" only to learn that the other person not only hasn't played them, but hasn't heard of them.
CrossCode is pretty well-known at this point but I liked it a lot.
Bug Fables does a solid job aping the vibes of old Paper Mario games even though it takes a bit to really get going.
Crawl was a personal favorite of the late-10s couch co-op boom but I never got many chances to play it.
Ikenfell is a decent JRPG with pretty robust accessibility options and major LGBTQ themes.
Masquerada has some surprisingly in-depth worldbuilding and a high-profile voice cast that buoy otherwise only passable combat. Developer seems to have vanished off the face of the earth though.
I did a shared post, but for the comments as well: Ubermosh is a fantastic series of tight gameplay, rock music, and quick rounds.
Rainworld has a perfect blend of simulated elements and open world design so that it really feels like you're exploring a place people used to live and not a series of game levels.
Seconding Rain World. One of the best gaming experiences ive had, and despite using a guide, did not hamper my experience one bit. Nothing has felt like maneuvering slugcat through that world. The art is also so impressive and memorable. A game I constantly tell people to check out
Greatly love rain world. Close to or is top favorite game I have played.
Came to say it. Recently blew past Outer Wilds and Dark Souls to become my favorite video game. I’ve truly never played anything like it - at every step it feels like exploring a breathing world instead of a video game, and the setting effortlessly blends the beautiful harshness of nature with an overgrown postapocalypse that just CLICKS. Absolutely won’t be for everyone, but if you have a passing interest in platformers, metroidvanias, or simulated ecosystems the first level alone is worth the price of admission.
Imbroglio on iOS is a phenomenal puzzle/roguelike game. I wish he would port it to Steam because it deserves so much more attention than it gets.
Mindustry is my favorit game of all time. It combines tower defense with a factory aspect, like factorio.
Samurai Gunn 2 is one of if not the best local multiplayer games ever made and nobody is playing it. Game feel is off the fucking charts, every character has an interesting gimmick that is completely different from the rest of the roster, and the guest characters are done with so much care it feels like the indie Smash Bros. that everyone dreams of but never will be. Up there with the best of the best of the indie local multiplayer boom like Towerfall, Lethal League, and Nidhogg imo
rifter is one of my favorite indie action platformers ever made, and i've never seen anyone else even mention it.
alternatively, basically any doujin game ever made. other than a few exceptions like touhou, i never really see anyone in the english-speaking indie scene talking about them. personally i'm a big fan of refrain - prism memories -, which has a perfect early 2000s cyberpunk/trance atmosphere and fantastic level design. speaking of touhou, the touhou fangame 爆東方幻想郷 detonate on sound was a huge inspiration for one of the game modes in my game chessplosion so i gotta mention it here too.
Hi! I'm thinking of doing a round-up of hidden gems recommended by Cohost users, with little blurbs written by the people who enjoyed them. If you're interested, could you give me like a 2-3 sentence pitch on what "refrain - prism memories -" is, for those who haven't heard of it? I can credit you with link to your page!
Or you could tell me about rifter, whichever one you feel more passionate about sharing!
You can either reply here, or send me an Ask, or email kylelabriola@gmail.com
Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale is a non-touhou doujin game that got big enough for quasi-mainstream attention, but other than that, you are correct the indie scene doesn't really talk about or have awareness of the vast majority of doujin. (myself included).
Lovely Planet, Wuppo, and Paradise Killer all deserve more attention than they got in my opinion
My go-to recommendations are:
Heaven's Vault, a game about uncovering the truth of an ancient civilization by deciphering their language.
Paradise Killer, an unconventional take on the murder mystery where there isn't necessarily one correct solution.
Tenderfoot Tactics! such a brilliant and moody tactics game that I never hear anyone talk about, unless they know it from me...
Hi! I'm thinking of doing a round-up of hidden gems recommended by Cohost users, with little blurbs written by the people who enjoyed them. If you're interested, could you give me like a 2-3 sentence pitch on what Tenderfoot Tactics is and what you like about it, for those who haven't heard of it? I can credit you with link to your page!
You can either reply here, or send me an Ask, or email kylelabriola@gmail.com
Hellsinker is, IMO, one of the best indie games ever created. I don't care that you "don't like shmups" this game's special. yes it looks intimidating and impenetrable that's by design and the work you put in to understand and unravel it is what makes the experience special I need y'all to understand
it's on Steam and frequently goes on sale for $5. I promise it's worth the effort
Sable is fairly well known but is probably one of my all-time favorite open-world games.
Umurangi Generation also isn't extremely niche, but it's a photography game just oozing with character.
Both of these are on a very short list of games where I got 100% of the achievements purely because of how much I wanted to squeeze every ounce of gameplay from them.
帽子世界: a new little world, the free yuri non-linear SaGa-like RPGmaker game
japanese: http://rpgex.sakura.ne.jp/littleworld/index.html
english: https://mega.nz/folder/09FRHYSR#VKxBWy9oTNffPNJlnvsEBA
This looks so up my alley. I'm assuming there's no English translation?
ok i messed up the spacing initially so i understand missing it but I did in fact link both the og and an english patch lol
Hi! I'm thinking of doing a round-up of hidden gems recommended by Cohost users, with little blurbs written by the people who enjoyed them. If you're interested, could you give me like a 2-3 sentence pitch on what 帽子世界 is, for those who haven't heard of it? I can credit you with link to your page!
I think this is a game that a lot of people would wanna check out, tbh.
You can either reply here, or send me an Ask, or email kylelabriola@gmail.com
Mixolumia - a great action puzzle game you can easily get lost in. Easy to play difficult to master.
Future Grind - sort of if you mixed Uniracers with Tony Hawk Pro Staker.
Valdis Story - an incredibly good character action Metroidvania.
As an added bonus, Mixolumia is quite literally an indie game of cohost, courtesy of creator @geometric. Poking around in the tags as best I can, I'm surprised it hasn't been profiled already.
gosh i need to give Valdis Story another go, i was loving it & then messed up my save or something lol
Still pretty popular but should imo be in the same category as the huge, always talked about indies: The End Is Nigh, Invisible Inc., Heat Signature and Unsighted.
As for more obscure.. I would have a huge puzzle game list, but basically every puzzle game isn't talked about (except Baba is You), so let's just say Sensorium, a smallish witnesslike. Plus Can of Wormholes for the recency bias (and also because it's incredible and constantly creative for 20h, while still being pretty accessible).
Outside of puzzles Treasures of the Aegean is my go to rec, a timelooping metroid game without combat. Great sense of exploration. And one with a similar theme I wouldn't say I love but still very interesting and extremely unknown would be Timeloop: Sink Again Beach. It's short, and a little janky, but very charming and has a great take on timeloop I've never seen in a game before.
I tried the first few levels of Can of Wormholes the other day and it seems neat! Still playing Stephen's Sausage Roll though, I want to finish that before getting too deep into another puzzle game.
Probably a good idea yeah, SSR is a big one :D both have very similar vibes too
Hi! I'm thinking of doing a round-up of hidden gems recommended by Cohost users, with little blurbs written by the people who enjoyed them. If you're interested, could you give me like a 2-3 sentence pitch on what Treasures of the Aegean, for those who haven't heard of it? I can credit you with link to your page!
You can either reply here, or send me an Ask, or email kylelabriola@gmail.com
Sure :)
Treasures of the Aegean is a 6-8h combatless metroidvania, focused on exploration and platforming. It's set in the ruins of a lost city, and you're trapped in a timeloop, trying to prevent the apocalypse. Every loop, the game drops you in a different part, forcing you to learn the overall layout, and to master the parkour movement. The timeloop itself isn't too punishing, you can piece things together at your own pace, building your map bit by bit with custom markers. When you're ready you can tackle one of the bigger puzzles that need to be solved in a single loop, but the timer is pretty generous and each section has its own independent puzzle. Overall it's a very pleasant game to play with a great sense of exploration.
my biggest complaints about both of these games is that it feels overly difficult/monotonous to reach 100% completion, but i think if you are either: a) someone who enjoys playing through a game once or twice and doesn't worrying about 100% completing it b) someone who finds doing the same thing over and over fun and relaxing
then these games could be a really good fit!
Here are some more:
Timespinner - a very good, very queer metroidvania that has a great community and a wonderful fan made randomizer.
Ara Fell - a jRPG with some really interesting system. They let you have over 100% crit chance if you want and that's nifty.
Visual Out - Another metroidvania (look I just think they're neat ok?), this one is about exploring a dying computer if I remember correctly. It's real solid. Interesting upgrades.
Dujanah - it's a Jack King Spooner game. Incredible soundtrack and vibes.
Symphony of War: the Nephilm Saga - Do you like Fire Emblem but wish it had more and more interesting party management? That's this game. It's rad as hell. I gotta finish it.
Yessss Timespinner is awesome. It has multiple endings, though you actually need to do multiple playthroughs to hit all of them (IIRC NG+ works for that, so that makes it easier).
The soundtrack is on Apple Music (maybe Spotify too, idk) and Bandcamp.
Copy Kitty by @AzureLazuline and @Raibys is absolutely one more people should check out! It's a banger of an action game with really cool mechanics and style.
There are other games people have mentioned I have enjoyed more, but so many of them I found found via game news articles. Copy Kitty is one I only know about thanks to following a game journalist who regularly sings its praises, and I'm glad I bought it and beat it (at least, one of the two playthroughs). It deserves more love.
Treachery in Beatdown City. Well known in the NYC indie games scene for the Cinderella story of its development, but even minus that context it is a solid, original, fascinating game and an authentic caricature (oxymoronic as that sounds) of New York City local culture. Think Fallout 3's mix of turn-based and active battle RPG mechanics, with deeper tactics, in a Final Fight beat-em-up thematic framing with Double Dragon NES style pixel art. It is an absolute blast to play.
No Pineapple Left Behind, a sophisticated school sim that is as dystopian as it is realistic. A damning critique of the US education system that only belies its message in that it is actually enjoyable to play.
Brogue, a strikingly elegant minimalist roguelike. There's no leveling and only one stat, and monsters are deliberately always ahead of you on the power curve--to survive, you'll need to make clever use of the environment (with its beautiful ASCII fluid simulation) and whatever consumables you find, at a level of tactical depth other roguelikes only ever offer when your character is in mortal danger. And it runs on macOS and Linux as well as Windows!
The Story Mechanics' adaptation of The 39 Steps is a wonderful experience, and to my mind one of the stand-out Mac games of the early '10s.
This one's a blast from the past, but I think Clysm's Kudzu is still highly underrated. Helped me first understand that games can be personal art as well as commercial art.
ive already made a Reblog or whatever itz ccalled of thius post but im gonna leave a comment so more ppl can see ... but eeermmm everyone should play Teabat. gorgeous and pretty and nice little collect-a-thon 2d platformer. also it has some crazy pseudo 3d secrets for freaks like me who love that sort of thing ....... LOL !!
I rechosted for screenshot purposes, but in case no one sees that, my best pick would be OPUS: Echo of Starsong.
My favorite game of 2022 would be a tossup between ADACA and Ctrl Alt Ego and I hardly see anyone talking about either.
ADACA's "zone patrol" mode is now my favorite out of the STALKER-likes I've seen thus far. It lacks the "survival" elements but more than makes up for that on the exploration side. Much of the progression is in finding hidden things and learning how stuff works. It's main campaign is also very nice as it starts out drawing very heavily from Half-Life 2 and then incorporates more of the STALKER elements as it goes on. https://siris-pendrake.itch.io/adaca
Ctrl Alt Ego might one of the best "immersive-sims" in recent memory. It's like a System Shock or Prey 2017 that has less emphasis on "conventional" combat and more on alternative approaches to combat and general problem solving. In some ways I feel like it's what you get if you grow an immersive sim out of a puzzle game like Portal instead of out an FPS or RPG. It has one of the best sets of powers/gadgets I've seen in an immersive-sim. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1571940/Ctrl_Alt_Ego/
Highly recommend the Open Sorcery series, which are Twine games set in a world that operates on a fusion of magic and computer science. In the original Open Sorcery, you play as BEL/S, a magical firewall program / fire elemental, as she’s tasked with protecting her network from spiritual threats and slowly develops sentience and independence. It’s pretty short, but your choices have a big impact and figuring out how to reach certain endings is an interesting puzzle in its own right. Also, the writing is fantastic, and I adored all of the characters. I’m begging someone to write more fanfic for this game; there’s currently exactly one Open Sorcery fic on AO3 (massive spoilers for one of the game’s coolest moments), and while it’s great, I desperately want more. Thankfully, there is a holiday-themed mini-sequel / expansion (it was released as DLC on Steam and as a standalone on itch): Jingle BEL/S which is very cute and even queerer than the original game.
And then there’s the prequel Open Sorcery: Sea++ which mostly doesn’t feature any of those same characters. Nevertheless, it still managed to be not only my 2021 GOTY, but straight up one of the most incredible video games I have ever played. The writing is still great, but also the game has so much more going on; forget whatever ideas you might have about what “a Twine game” entails, Sea++ is a massive, full-featured text adventure: walking north/south/east/west, using spells and inventory items to solve puzzles, the works. It’s got an element of resource management to it as well, as you acquire various motes of magical energy and have to make decisions about which kind to spend to solve any given problem (or whether you choose to solve them at all). Also, the variety of stuff you can get up to is wild—for example:
The game gives you an astonishing level of freedom; all of those things I just mentioned? Completely optional, and in one case it’s possible to complete the game without visiting—or even finding—the entire region where you could accomplish that objective. Basically, what I’m saying is, Sea++ rules.
I will totally second this recommendation. These games have very clever writing and I'm so glad to see them being mentioned in this thread!
Hi! I'm thinking of doing a round-up of hidden gems recommended by Cohost users, with little blurbs written by the people who enjoyed them. If you're interested, could you give me like a 2-3 sentence pitch on what Open Sorcery is, for those who haven't heard of it? I can credit you with link to your page!
I had literally never heard of it before and i think it'd be up a LOT of people's alley.
You can either reply here, or send me an Ask, or email kylelabriola@gmail.com
Sure!
Open Sorcery is a Twine-based interactive fiction series set in a world where magic operates like an arcane version of computer science. The first game is a mostly linear narrative about a firewall AI (made from literal fire magic) patrolling and defending her community and slowly developing self-awareness, while the greatly-expanded prequel Sea++ is an exploration and puzzle-heavy Zork/Wishbringer-inspired adventure game about an amnesiac sorcerer stranded at the bottom of the Web (a spiritual realm that’s half magical Internet and half Jungian collective unconscious). Both games really shine through their writing, with great characters and inventive, pun-heavy worldbuilding, and they have some excellent representation, from the many queer characters to Sea++’s overarching focus on disability.
Nuclear Throne is one of my favourite games of all time, in my opinion it's one of the greatest action arcade games there is
Nothing too obscure, but I've played several that flew under my radar before they blew me away
Environmental Station Alpha - a Metroidvania from Hempuli, creator of Baba Is You, that's easily my favorite game in the genre. Has one of the most satisfying grappling hooks I've ever used.
Last Day of June - a melancholy and emotional journey through the themes of a Steven Wilson song. Surprisingly good puzzle-y gameplay and an (unsurprisingly) amazing soundtrack.
RUINER - kinda like Hyper Light Drifter, but with way less exploration and way more guns and swearing. Amazing combat loop and visceral, fast-paced gameplay not unlike modern Doom. Short and sweet cyberpunk action game.
OneShot - what I feel you'd get if you mixed Undertale and Night in the Woods, with some walking-sim and point-and-click gameplay to taste. Hard to describe further without spoiling, but an unforgettably cute and emotional time.
My answer to that will always be Heroes of a Broken Land.
Do you like Civilization? Do you like Dungeon Crawlers? Then why the hell hasn't anyone ever smashed these two concepts together?? It's so beautifully elegant and engaging. It's like getting your favorite cake on your birthday, where you also got that one present you've been yearning for all year.
Skyward Collapse is my second. Arcen Games at its nebulous best. It's a God game where you not so much dictate what happens, but desperately try to keep the balance between tensions equal, to prevent total annihilation. There are few games like it.
Together in Battle isn't out yet (next week), but shoutouts to this developer who is basically trying to be the antithesis of what Fire Emblem has become and putting strategic combat first, while still retaining personal stories and all that. It's likely gonna get overlooked, so check it out.
Hyper Demon - mind-bending, eye-searing score attack fps. I can see new colors after playing it.
Horizon's Gate - Sid Meier's Pirates x Fire Emblem. As good as it sounds.
ZeroRanger - excellent shmup. Incredible pixel art and music
Gorogoa - Best point-and-click adventure / puzzle game I've ever played
nobody seems to have mentioned elephantasy by @linker. very fun metroidvania styled adventure game (it looks like a platformer but doesn't actually require platforming skills) that i had a lot of fun unpacking.
also sylvie lime by @sylvie seems obligatory. you can turn into a lime in this one. one of my favorite games of all time.
lastly i wanna recommend two very similar games. im a huge fan of gutwhale, a micro-action roguelike with fun mechanics and extreme difficulty, that you can probably still finish due to its very short length. it puts you in a successive arenas filled with enemies, and asks you to kill them all.
ive also really enjoyed gun rounds, which is a similar premise but with more mobile friendly controls. i've linked to the play store instead of itch because even though its on itch, mobile is my recommended way to play.
I recently made a list about literally this
https://cohost.org/jeroknite/post/1310315-jero-s-list-of-games
i reblogged as well, but want to put it in the comments for people scrolling through to see: grotto by brainwash gang is a phenomenal narrative game about the limitations of language and advice and agency. it's seriously so good and more people need to talk about it, especially in narrative game circles
The World Next Door is a symbol-matching game and visual novel by Rose City Games, published by Viz Media (yes, the manga people). It's a lot of fun and I devoured it. Currently $10 for the game, or $12.78 with soundtrack.
Freedom Planet is really good. Recommended if you liked the old Sonic the Hedgehog games on the Genesis/Mega Drive. It's currently on sale for $7.49 on Humble; it's also available for PS4 on the PlayStation Store. You can buy the soundtrack on Bandcamp.
Disparity is a criminally unknown gem of the precision platformer genre created by tamationgames and published in 2017 after years of development -- and is, in my opinion, their video game masterpiece
based around the core mechanic of swapping the polarity of levels, it features very creative level design, touching storytelling and a killer soundtrack
bonus pick -- comparably much more well known -- Electronic Super Joy 2 is fucking amazing and among my favorite masocore platformers ever
Hi! I'm thinking of doing a round-up of hidden gems recommended by Cohost users, with little blurbs written by the people who enjoyed them. If you're interested, could you give me like a 2-3 sentence pitch on what Disparity is, for those who haven't heard of it? I can credit you with link to your page!
Or, with your permission, I can just use the blurb you wrote in this comment already! The game looks really interesting.
You can either reply here, or send me an Ask, or email kylelabriola@gmail.com
hey! cool initiative, i hereby grant you the permission to use the blurb i wrote in my previous comment ;)
Even if they don't necessarily need my help shouting them out, Distance is an eternal fave, I had a great time with Skatebird, and i will always evangelize games that Xalavier Nelson Jr had a hand in like Hypnospace Outlaw but especially An Airport For Aliens Currently Run By Dogs. His Space Warlord Organ Trading Simulator is also super rad but i've never touched it so i have no review on it, and I dunno if it's that obscure either. But Dog Airport Game, Skatebird (which actually also saw Xalavier Nelson Jr as a writer), and Distance are among my favorites, Distance because it just feels so good to play a fuckin space car parkour arcade racer that goes so fuckin hard, Skatebird was my first skateboard game and it's chill as hell with a banger soundtrack, and Dog Airport Game made my heart explode
CROSSNIQ+ ↗️ Crossniiiiq! It's such a fun and stylish arcade puzzler, you slide around tiles to create crosses across the playing field set to the soundtrack of a bunch of Y2K jams with music by DV-i and Virix Dreamcore, it's so good and vibey. There's also some cute anthro characters!! If anyone is a fan of arcade puzzle-type games or the late 90s-early 00s techno aesthetics and music I implore you to check this game out, if this sounds interesting and you want to try out the base gameplay (without all the "+") you can play the original CROSSNIQ for free here!
UNIUM 🔳 I might not know how to pronounce the name of this game but it's one I really like! It has a chill vibe to it as you sit back and do a lot of puzzles where you have to erase all the tiles on-screen by reversing their color (black or white) by drawing only one line across the puzzle. If you've ever played Polarium on the DS (or GBA) then this should be familiar as it's basically Polarium's puzzle mode, but with Steam Workshop support through a level creator!
Hi! I'm thinking of doing a round-up of hidden gems recommended by Cohost users, with little blurbs written by the people who enjoyed them. If you're interested, could you give me like a 2-3 sentence pitch on what CROSSNIQ is, for those who haven't heard of it? I can credit you with link to your page!
Or, with your permission, I can use the blurb you wrote in that comment already!
You can either reply here, or send me an Ask, or email kylelabriola@gmail.com
Oh yeah totally feel free to use the blurb I wrote! I think that encapsulates about all the gushing I could write about it already 👍
there's a few gags in it that haven't aged especially well but i can't think of a better time capsule of millennial internet humour than Tales of Game’s Studios Presents Chef Boyardee’s Barkley, Shut Up & Jam: Gaiden, Chapter 1 of the Hoopz Barkley SaGa
it's free! you can just download it! but be warned: the game IS canon.
Tactical Nexus, the most content-dense game in existence
Hi! I'm thinking of doing a round-up of hidden gems recommended by Cohost users, with little blurbs written by the people who enjoyed them. If you're interested, could you give me like a 2-3 sentence pitch on what Tactical Nexus is, for those who haven't heard of it? I can credit you with link to your page!
The steam page is incredibly intriguing.
You can either reply here, or send me an Ask, or email kylelabriola@gmail.com
You can use this blurb:
Tactical Nexus is an extremely difficult resource management puzzle game disguised as a simple indie RPG. Completing a tower efficiently will reward you with a medal that you can use to purchase upgrades in other towers. With enough medals, you can return to old towers and find new solutions to get better rewards, allowing the game to be played dozens of times over for thousands of hours, with every replay feeling like a brand new puzzle.
splatter is a manic, garishly colourful fps about the absurdity of gaming and the internet, and being tormented by sadistic losers for views and clout. very gamey, lots of bite, brilliant and artful. i just chosted about it!
Just adding to the list from my earlier rechost - I Was A Teenage Exocolonist was one of my GOTY's last year and probably top-10 all time. It's the best life management sim I've ever played and while it isn't hard it does not pull any punches.
I know this is a late response, but I wanted to recommend Ruina: Fairy Tale of the Forgotten Ruins. (https://dinklations.wordpress.com/2021/01/30/ruina-fairy-tale-of-the-forgotten-ruins-english-version/) It's an RPG Maker game that borrows from tabletop and gamebooks, and looks like nothing else. It's the kind of game that could only exist because its creator made it for their own satisfaction, rather than to reach a larger audience--that said, Ruina has a cult following in Japan and China (at least.) The game is being remade by a Chinese studio, but the original version is worth checking out! I interviewed the English translators here: https://www.crunchyroll.com/anime-feature/2021/04/08/interview-after-13-years-indie-rpg-masterpiece-ruina-is-finally-available-in-english
also gonna second hat world, i'm a long way from finishing that game but it's a masterpiece
These are great suggestions! No such thing as a "late response"!
I've always been a big fan of Virgo Vs The Zodiac. It's an Indie RPG inspired primarily by the Mario & Luigi series, and as the name implies, there's a lot of zodiac theming in the game. I've gotten a good number of my friends to buy the game, but none have actually played it yet.
This is not to mention that if it hasn't already, it's soon to release on Consoles, though it's been on PC for quite some time already.
Big fan of Beast Breaker. It's a turn-based tactical pinball style RPG - imagine Peggle combined with a block breaker game, where the protagonist is the ball and the blocks to break are giant beasts you're fighting. Lots of fun strategic decision making (including a ton of different weapon options that affect your movement and damage-dealing capabilities.) Also has really great characters and story, with a bunch of cute animal folk that I have a lot of feelings about.
Mushroom Musume is easily one of my favorite weird genre mashups - half daughter-raising sim, half roguelike, lots of cute mushrooms, lots of hidden secrets, and lots of horrible things that can happen. Totally recommended.
I think Secret Little Haven is one that I loved but never see talked about! It's a narrative game styled after the old web, kinda in the style of things like Emily Is Away, but specifically focusing in on the journey of a young trans girl in the not-sailor moon magical girl show fandom of the game's world. It has a whole computer interface to explore and play with, a compelling story with online drama that feels painfully realistic even as someone who grew up in the mid-late 2000s and 2010s rather than 90s to early 2000s of the game's setting. It's charming, nostalgic, cute and emotionally very heavy
Mad Rat Dead is a rhythm-platformer by Nippon Ichi Software. You play as the titular Mad Rat, as he turns back the clock on his death and seeks revenge on the human who experimented on him. It's not a flawless game, there's going to be some boggling grammar and gameplay points, but ... it's a game with a lot of heart, you can't help but root for it. Of course, the music is also utterly fantastic.
Content warnings for cartoon gore (the game does open on our protagonist being vivisected), bright flashing colors, as well as themes of death and insanity.
whenever this comes up i always want to shout out venineth, a marble rolling game that's basically set in a bunch of bryce 3d renders and commits to the bit so much that even the options menu and achievements have no text. "this means something profound but you have no context for it", as a game. really great stuff, and the marble rolling physics are really nice too
Color Jumper: really well made platformer where you jump and rotate your color, which changes what surfaces you can interact with. Levels are short bursts of gradually increasing challenges with a lot of variety that really make you think while you play. I never finished Meat Boy and thought challenging platformers weren't for me, but I loved Color Jumper.
Despite being well made, it only has 21 reviews on steam. I also lament that some of the craziest creative levels come in the post game.
Also, did you purchase one of the itch.io giant bundles? Check and see if you already own it!
https://tallbeard.itch.io/color-jumper
And since people are recommending more than one, I'd also like to throw out the Noisz franchise. On steam (and soon switch) it is a bullet hell game where you need to pay attention to the beat of the song, while deciding between shielding and attacking. On iPhone and Android, NOISZ : STARLIVHT is a rhythm game with bullet hell integration and 4 unique characters with different emergency "bursts." It is also the only free to play game on my phone that I consider a fair free to play game: Vast majority of songs, all of story mode, and one event style for each character available along with unlimited plays of each song on any unlocked difficulty, including a post-story "build your own style" rogue-like experience. Stamina system exists, but only to speed up character leveling/ story mode progress. Plus, the songs you get at the start are some of the strongest in my opinion, with unlock able songs doing more interesting things with the mechanics.
Spark the Electric Jester (1 and 2, but maybe especially 3) is a love letter series to 2d and 3d sonic that is better than most 2d and 3d sonic games. 2 and 3, the 3d entries, in particular, have so much going for them that fans of Adventure 1/2 would appreciate, down to the delightfully cheesy writing.
Baobab's Mausoleum is a short series of adventure games with a bizarre aesthetic-collage atmosphere. they're extremely rough around the edges, but they're also weird and charming enough that i never stop thinking about them.
Eastshade is a non-violent painting simulator that basically plays like an elder scrolls game without any combat. i'm always surprised by how few people seem to know about it, it's one of the best exploration games i've ever played.
Tacopocalypse is a $5 game that basically asks "what if tony hawk but you're a taco delivery truck?" It's not a huge game, not by any means, it's only $5, but it's also been out for six years and has a VERY depressing 32 reviews on Steam. I've gotten more than a few hours out of this whenever I want to just veg out and have a good time delivering tacos while the planet explodes
Can confirm: This is the game that convinced me that bullet hells didn't have to be intimidating, they could also be fun, and they can slowly encourage you to get better over time.
ASTLIBRA Revision is a massive 2D action RPG made by a single dev that's in the style of games like Castlevania: Symphony of the Night and Odin Sphere, about an amnesiac (of course) boy and his talking bird friend finding an artifact that allows them to time travel. There's a great demo that includes the first two chapters of the game, with the ability to continue that save in the full game, but it also includes a demo level made to show off later game combat that runs you through a handful of enemy encounters and bosses.
The combat feels so fun and satisfying from the start and the game somehow manages to constantly add complexity and a breadth of build options throughout its runtime. A good number of progression mechanics makes the gameplay loop extremely compelling and satisfying; the difference between your abilities at the start and end of the game is just staggering. The soundtrack is mostly curated from royalty free offerings, and KEIZO did a great job curating because it RIPS. I played on very hard so I spent a good amount of time grinding, and I was never bored because the combat rules and all the combat zone tracks are fantastic (I especially love this one.).
I'll say the writing was mostly fine to bad, but it did get a new English translation patched in a few months ago, so it's likely better now than when I played. The grand plot however is a joy to experience, there's plenty of time travel shenanigans, cool locations, fun characters, and mysteries that only reveal more mysteries. I must have thought the story was ramping up to an ultimate conclusion at least a few times before it actually finished, but I never got sick of it.
Clockwork Calamity in Mushroom World, despite its simplistic looks, is an unbelievably elaborate game that surprised me with new depths to its mechanics right until the end. It's kind of an immersive sim??? An immersive sim with cute silly songs and kittens and giant caves full of mushrooms. Legitimately one of the most shockingly brilliant games i've ever played
Before your eyes is maybe well known but has left such an impact on me that I have to mention it
Sleeper Games has made 3 my most played games in the past few years, aside from Elden Ring.
Hyperspace Dogfights is a luftrausers-esque arcade game with a really compelling roguelike layer and a wild colour palette.
Red Tether is another roguelike where your only weapon are tethers with which you tear weapons off ships before crashing them together to blow them up.
Swirl Watch is a game about doing stealthy anti-capitalist eco-terrorism in a gas giant, where enemies are initially invisible except for their sound bubbles until you use sonar or lidar to tag them.
I'd love for more people to play them because I know for a fact that the dev lost money on the first game and barely recouped costs on the other two, and they're the most compelling things I've played recently.
Going Under - there's just so much to love about it despite its low budget.
Solid art direction imitating colorful corporate style, solid writing for flawed but likeable characters and IT/corpo/startup jokes that don't fall flat. Story is solid - don't go expecting an epic journey and you might get a few positive surprises along the way with even a bit of character development for npcs that started off as jerks.
On gameplay side, it's dungeon crawling hack'n'slash (i guess, i'm not good with genre names) in randomised layouts of failed startup offices, and its difficulty options are elastic enough to allow even less experienced players (like me) to finish it.
Also the game's themes did not get old with time since its 2020 release, and it's just as fun to replay after finishing once, with optional challenge of all zones runs with increased difficulty (if you're into that kind of thing).
Sulfur Nimbus Hels Elixer.(itch)
I wanna Maker (steam)
Tynk the final phonorecord (itch - demo)
Mindustry (steam, other platforms, even some mobile)
Copy Kitty (steam)
Rain World (more known but still mentioning)
Momodora (reverie under moonlight, good game but weird some ways but had good time doing the bosses without being hit)
Overgrowth (havnt played in a while but a interesting physics based combat game as furry characters with campaigns & mod support, notably lots of procedural animation & somewhat to much intriguing physics)
Pseudoregalia
Well known some but maybe not heard of by some: Cave Story. Translated freeware version on dedication website & many versions across places with different visuals & such {I 100% the translated freeware version)
I know you have a lot on your plate already.
But I'd like to point less about a series of games an more about a time. I'm citing @zaratustra here when they say "Too old for steam, too new for archive.org" the inside games interregnum era. I also like to call it the Yoyogames Sandbox era or the TIGSource era. Along with some newgrounds era games (although parallel from this community, but not too much)
These are a series of very interesting games that serves as a basis and starting point of many future really well know game creators, but they are often ignored and forgotten due to the time they existed. Many interesting games and a very interesting time for game devs to researching as well.
To look for a sample of all of these check the post by @zaratustra here https://cohost.org/zaratustra/tagged/games%20from%20the%20indie%20interregnum
Helen's Mysterious Castle It's a very small RPG with one of my favorite types of battle systems, where you select attacks by their wait or delay times. Grandia also used this type of system. Though it is much more simplified in this one, as you only control one character and you find different weapons with different attack/wait times. It also means that most everything you find has value.
cannot find Paper Beast in the replies, so I must
A little under 5 hours, unique gameplay that reveals itself with minimal direction, stunning visuals that evoke some kind of prog album cover--I cried at the end, even though I'm not sure what the whole thing was about (and I don't cry easily!)
I will say that this was meant for VR & I didn't play it that way, but it may have been the only experience that's ever given me "VR-envy" (i don't really plan on engaging with VR since nausea is a bit triggering for me)
nothing_matters
It's a 1 hour long game where you are trapped as a play tester for a developer who lives in a dystopian society sometime around 2200AD in "United Earth State". It's free on steam, and a 10/10 experience.
I don't think anyone has mentioned FRANKEN yet. It's a pretty funky little game that never fails to makes me laugh. You play as a hero with only one attack. There are a lot of gags inspired by old school JRPGs. A pretty short romp--only about two hours long if you bother to see everything--but it's really worth it.
