Ask Lemmy

Space Station Silicone Valley

Urban Terror

Honestly, Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective.

The remaster got some attention, but it still feels pretty niche for a game made by the Ace Attorney guy. I never felt like it got its "moment" in the same way as, say, Blue Prince.

And yet, from the moment the 15-year-old announcement trailer dropped, I knew it was going to be in "top 5 of all time" territory for me. 😍

During lockdown I played ECHO, which had been in my backlog for a few years after a stray recommendation I saw on MetaFilter. It was a surprisingly tight integration of beautiful and intriguing environmental/UI/sound design, gorgeous music, compelling yet minimalist storytelling (and voice acting), and a really strong gameplay loop of stealth, puzzle-solving, and the occasional panicky run-and-gun. Imagine my surprise when I read up on it after and learned it only sold a few thousand copies!

I strongly recommend playing it blind, but this trailer gives a good overview of the style and mechanics.

Shining Force 3. Mostly cause it's marooned on the Saturn but it's so friggin good.

Perfect Dark. I didn't have a sibling to play with, so I am eternally grateful to Rare for making computer-controlled bots in the multiplayer mode.

Hi-Fi Rush deserves way more recognition! Both story and gameplay are perfect. DMC meets DDR!

Just a great time all around once you get into the flow of things.

One of my favorite games is a hidden gem that I never see people mention. It's called Out of Space and it's a couch co-op game similar to Overcooked with two major differences, it's less frenetic so you can play it to chill out, and it's procedurally generated so you have lots of replayability. For me and my wife it's the perfect game of "let's play a round of something", yet I never see it mentioned anywhere.

The Fatal Frame series (maybe the second one here and there) and Kunitsu-Gami. The second one surprised me since it's relatively new, but I thought it was a great surprise. I loved the hell out of that game.

I used to play the shit out of The Specialist, a HL1 mp mod.

Also while most were hooked on Twisted Metal my brother and I loved Vigilante 8.

Thing Thing series

Pocket Tanks

Black Ice

Definitely Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds, an RTS in the Star Wars universe that uses the Age of Empires 2 engine and has very similar gameplay.

I think I'd have to say La-Mulana.

Beyond Good and Evil

Dysmantle.

Casual post apocalyptic survival etc game. It’s also available on consoles, switch and mobile.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/846770/DYSMANTLE/

The Void by Ice-Pick Lodge, the makers of Pathologic.

This game taught me that actions have consequences and that I should be more humble and think twice about the environment before exploiting it like I'm playing a game.

Yes, it's that kind of game.

There's a bunch on the PS1 that got lost in the mix.

Ape Escape was really fun and novel, it was the first mandatory dual-stick release, and it did initially sell really well! It got two sequels on the PS2 but then drifted into spin-offs and party games. It's been two decades since the last proper installment.

Tomba! is delightful nonsense, a 2D adventure platformer that presented non-linear quests and tight controls. It's a cult-classic and the digital Special Edition on PS5 looks like it was done well.

Now for something truly forgotten: Running Wild. It's a kart racer but instead of karts it's a bunch of furries in a footrace. The announcer yells a lot, some of the character designs are lazy stereotypes, the graphics are muddy, but the track design is solid and it really feels fast when you get going. Very rewarding to learn the best lines and get into a clean flow.

I have good memories of LAN parties playing a game called DEFCON which is basically the Thermonuclear War game from the 80s movie Wargames. The game itself is fairly basic but was a blast to play with a group and I am a sucker for the retro vector atheistics.

Star Tropics for the NES.

The Witness. It might have had its moment but it feels like it's probably pretty forgotten at this point. It's a first person puzzle game where you're on an island ... and it's not Myst, Riven, or ... that other game that was a puzzle game where you were on an island? At least as far into it as I've played, it's pretty low stakes and there's very little in the way of videos or audio narration. It's spooky but in bright daylight. There's quite a lot of game there, too.

Some more recent ones:

• Hammerfight (2009)
• Brigador (2016)
• CrossCode (2018)

Rhythm Doctor.

Full Throttle.

I rarely see any Ys game referenced. It's gotten a bit bigger, but still a super underrated series.

The Saboteur by Pandemic as well.

Field Commander on PSP.

The original Overlord game (with the minions).

Balloon Fight. Amazing game with great controls.

Sauerbraten FOSS FPS, available in your repo. Single player racemaps are fun. Get to the podium in the quickest time.

Try these servers:

-Racing#1 2021 [rev]-

or

Racing Reloaded

--//--

0AD FLOSS RTS, also available in your repo.

Excellent theming and challenges.

Shadowgate / Deja Vu / The Uninvited (NES)

Uniracers (SNES)

Custom Robo (GC)

Lost Kingdoms (GC)

Baiten Kaitos (GC)

Guardian Heroes was an outstanding RPG beat 'em up on Sega Saturn. It had

• a two player co-op storyline with branching choices to get alternate endings

• unlockable characters for a 6-player arena mode

• incredibly unique characters to unlock, spellcasting with ➡️⬅️⬆️⬇️ input

• and a kick ass soundtrack.

Nothing has really scratched the same itch since (yes, I'm aware there's a sequel, but it's terrible).

Epistory and Nanotales

Both fantastic games with beautiful graphics and good for typing practice.

An old game that never really took off, Orbz.

I was one of the best players in the world while it lasted.

Simple little game, you're a ball and you throw yourself at stars. The more you hit in a row without missing, the better your combo and score.

Essentially pong, but you play the ball, and it's on a landscape rather than somewhere you fall off and die.

I made a few levels for it.

Another was Triptych, which my friends and I called jelly tetris. Imagine tetris but the bits are springy and bounce a bit. It was a blast. Both were commercial games available on Linux at the time, early 2000s.