"obscure" games that I need to play?

[NinjaKick]

we have a solid fanbase on the geek board and I need some recommendations on "obscure" games that I need to play.
any console and any year.

Click to read more...

 

[aleshemsky83]

Off the top of my head

El shaddai ascension of the metatron

Pretty obscure PS3 game that's on steam now.

 

[Jovavic]

Off the top of my head

El shaddai ascension of the metatron

Pretty obscure PS3 game that's on steam now.

It's on 360 too, I believe

 

[Jovavic]

Tokyo Jungle for PS3

Any of the Katamari games

Edit: Organ Trail, I think it's on PC and PS3, probably other ones. It's like Oregan Trail, but instead of traveling west to claim riches or whatever in the 19th century, you're going west to flee the zombie hoard. Carries over that old graphics style from the older game as well as some of gameplay.

 

[Rodgerwilco]

Dark Cloud PS2 (2001) - Zelda-esque art style RPG game with a unique town-building aspect. You collect the pieces to restore each town even better than they were before as you build up your weapons and gain party members. Really fun game. There's a digital remaster available on PS4 on the PS Store.

Quern: Undying Thoughts PC + XBOX (2016) - Amazing puzzle game, the true successor to Myst, in my opinion. The atmosphere and music are incredible, the puzzles are inventive and unique. And the storyline is actually pretty good for a puzzle game. I would recommend playing on PC if you can, as the Xbox version is clearly not optimized and prone to crashes. Can always use a controller on PC if you prefer.

Subnautica PC + Console (2018)

Subnautica is probably the most well-known game on my short list, but I'd still consider it fairly 'obscure' as most I've talked to have never played it and if they've heard of it they don't really know anything about it.

One of my favorite open-world exploration/building games of all time. An absolutely breath-taking atmosphere, beautiful artwork, amazing and immersive music. Innovative building and creation system, and deep intriguing lore. I would absolutely recommend playing on the PC version if you can, as amazing of a game as Subnautica really is, mods can really take it to the top level .

 

[blue425]

Rain World

 

[TheDoldrums]

Snatcher for the Sega CD

From Hideo Kojima, extremely mature cyberpunk graphic novel game. You can see some hints of Metal Gear Solid in the themes, I really enjoyed the game when I played it a few years ago.

 

[Shareefruck]

I don't think I like any game that's truly obscure (that doesn't already have prestige from a notable cult following), but my most highly rated games with relative obscurity would be....

Downwell (should be at the top of every best indie game list, IMO, but rarely even makes an appearance-- only like $3, so there's really no excuse)


Umihara Kawase (Japanese-only Super Famicom indie [?] game. Like an actual good, non-troll-y but tough as nails, mechanically interesting/satisfying version of Getting Over It, with a unique aesthetic/deceptively creepy undertones)


Tactics Ogre (arguably every bit as good as Final Fantasy Tactics, which itself is already a bit niche, always gets the same developer attention, but never gets a fraction of the reception for some reason-- getting remade this November, and if it fixes as much as it appears to, I could see it getting into my absolute favorites)

 

[syz]

Ar tonelico 2. No, you won't be able to find a copy anywhere.

 

[Frankie Spankie]

I don't know how "obscure" these games really are but they're all indie games that didn't really become huge hits:

Gunfire Reborn - I don't know how "obscure" this really is since it has 60k reviews on Steam but I don't really see many people talk about it. It's a really fun roguelite shooter with co-op. They just released a new DLC last week with some new heroes and weapons.

Crown Trick - Really fun grid based roguelite where you get a turn, then the AI immediately gets a turn. You can wait as long as you want to decide your next move. As you get better at the game, you'll start moving quickly to make your moves. It's a lot of fun that takes a bit of learning early on but it's not overwhelming either.

Jupiter Hell - This is similar to Crown Trick but strictly roguelike. It's in the style of Doom which is interesting since you never really saw a turn based game to the theme of Doom.

Mini Motorways - One of my favorite puzzle games of all time. It's relaxing and stressful at the same time. You get new road pieces every in game week while the city is ever expanding and you have to see how many cars you can get to their destinations before there's too much traffic.

Legend of Grimrock 1 & 2 - These were small hits when they first came out years ago but they're awesome modernized dungeon crawlers for a mostly dead genre.

UnMetal - Plays in a similar style as Metal Gear for NES but with a lot of great humor throughout.

Yoku's Island Express - A metroidvania pinball game. You read that right. It works surprisingly well!

Total Party Kill - This is on Steam for a couple bucks but you can also play a mobile version for free with ads. It's a pretty fun little puzzle game where you have control of 3 characters and you have to kill some of them to help another reach the exit of a room.

HexCells - Kind of like a mix of Sudoku and Minesweeper. It's a really fun puzzle game that you can play in a relaxing way too since there's no "fail" to it. The goal is to solve each puzzle with 0 mistakes but if you make a mistake, you can just keep going if you don't want to reset.

Kalimba - This is an interesting platformer where you control two different characters at the same time. You'll have to swap them as necessary to solve puzzles and reach new areas.

Roundabout - This game is hard to describe. You drive a limo that is constantly spinning as you try to avoid all the obstacles in the city. Bonus points for some really strange yet hilarious cutscenes with actual people instead of in game models. It feels like a comedy B-movie.

 

[Rodgerwilco]

Snatcher for the Sega CD

From Hideo Kojima, extremely mature cyberpunk graphic novel game. You can see some hints of Metal Gear Solid in the themes, I really enjoyed the game when I played it a few years ago.

Absolutely incredible game, as a huge Kojima fan I've played a lot of his non-Metal Gear games, and like you said you can absolutely see hints of MG in this game, and Policenauts too for that matter.

 

[No Fun Shogun]

FreeSpace 1 and 2 for the PC. Damn quality space superiority fighter series.

You can skip the first game's expansion pack.

 

[Unholy Diver]

Valiant Hearts The Great War - it was a PS+ game a while back maybe in 2014/15, I rarely play the PS+ games but gave this a try and was pleasantly surprised

3D Dot Game heroes - 8bit style graphics in a zelda clone, was a fun little game, I think it was on PS3

 

[Jovavic]

^the like is for 3D, solid game.

Alundra is another good Zelda clone, it's on PS1

 

[Dolemite]

Manifold Garden (most platforms)

A mind f*** of a game that's REALLY fun.



PowerWash Sim (Xbox/Steam). So so good.

 

[SimGrindcore]

Kona (2017)

 

[Mikeaveli]

 

[TheGreenTBer]

Snatcher for the Sega CD

From Hideo Kojima, extremely mature cyberpunk graphic novel game. You can see some hints of Metal Gear Solid in the themes, I really enjoyed the game when I played it a few years ago.

This.

Absolutely incredible game, as a huge Kojima fan I've played a lot of his non-Metal Gear games, and like you said you can absolutely see hints of MG in this game, and Policenauts too for that matter.

and this.

The Sega CD version is a very desirable collectible that will cost you hundreds for a disc to in excess of $1000 USD for a CIB copy, if you can ever find it at all. I have no idea what the re-releases go for or whether or not it was released digitally at any point.

 

[Jovavic]

Alpha Protocol PS3/360, I believe. Rough around the edges but compelling story and gameplay is fun

 

[Metroid]

Terranigma:

a 1995 action role-playing game developed by Quintet for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), with manga artist Kamui Fujiwara acting as the character designer. The game tells the story of the Earth's resurrection by the hands of a boy named Ark, and its progress from the evolution of life to the present day. The game is considered the third and final entry in an unofficial trilogy of action RPGs created by Quintet, also including Soul Blazer (1992) and Illusion of Gaia (1993).


Copypasta from wiki. Game was never released in NA, emulator it up. It's fun.

 

[Shareefruck]

Terranigma's really cool. Probably the most awe-inspiring use of cutscenes in limited technology on the SNES, even compared to the usual Square classics.

 

[aleshemsky83]

I almost forgot, a super obscure game that I feel like nobody knows about: Otogi: Myth of Demons and Otogi 2: Immortal Warriors.

The first legit big budget big boy AAA From Software games. Theyre backwards compatible on XBOX so anybody can play them these days. However theyre, they're $20 and they never ever go on sale and you cant emulate them on PC.

Folklore on PS3.

Demon Turf reeeal underrated platformer. It funnily reminds me of bubsy 3d but good.

Edit: Nevermind, probably the wrong thread for it.

I will say the downwell devs did do something incredibly suspicious. They de-listed and then re-listed the game again on the google play store, doing it in such a way where people who owned the game no longer owned it. I only know this because it happened to me. I was given the "new game" (the exact same game) for free after emailing devolver directly but it was very suspect. They claimed it was a glitch so I'll have to take their word for it.

 

[Jovavic]

Seconded on Otogi 1, was pretty good, from what I remember, never played the second one

 

[Shareefruck]

I will say the downwell devs did do something incredibly suspicious. They de-listed and then re-listed the game again on the google play store, doing it in such a way where people who owned the game no longer owned it. I only know this because it happened to me. I was given the "new game" (the exact same game) for free after emailing devolver directly but it was very suspect. They claimed it was a glitch so I'll have to take their word for it.

Dunno.

On a random tangent, speaking of Downwell and Poinpy, I just saw the ending of Poinpy, and between those two games, I don't think there's a developer in videogames who's better at making the entirety of an otherwise gameplay-only game's story literally just a single clever, isolated plot point delivered at the very end of the experience, which amusingly re-contextualizes everything you've been doing up to that point.

I honestly find something that simple/elegant more satisfying and perfect, story-wise, than the narrative-driven movie games that people go nuts over, personally.

 

[Osprey]