Thanks for the lists! Seems like whenever someone asks for some lesser-known indie games, people start mentioning ones like Stray and Hades, which are good, but not exactly deep cuts. :)
I looked through my most played and least reviewed indie games on Steam, and found these three. They're super cheap for the summer sale right now, too.
Venineth - 178 reviews - currently $8 - released 2020
Physics-based 3D puzzle platformer. You play as a ball, with a lot of momentum, that rolls around some amazing looking, mysterious landscapes. Chill ambient music plays in the background. I haven't gotten very far yet; the reviews suggest that it gets harder as it goes on. The first couple hours are very relaxing.
2D puzzle platformer with the best soundtrack ever (and the soundtrack is 40 cents right now). You need to have very precise jump timing, so it has more difficult platforming than most puzzle platformers. Very replayable with leaderboards, community-made maps, and unlockable new skills that let you solve a level in different ways.
I stayed up way too late playing this one many years ago, and I can't even explain why it was fun. You just kind of fall downwards, aiming at things as you go down, and trying to find new routes to hit the things you want to hit and avoid the things you don't want to hit. I can't really compare it to anything else, except for maybe some platformers where there's a "falling level." Except this is all falling levels. It's weirdly good. They're working on a new one, although it's very delayed at this point.
algitht than if you like a nicely structured story than stay away its purposely confusing to “portray a certain type of mental illness”, which i call bullhog on, a confusing mess is a confusing mess
combat i find too slow the game is generally boring to actually play
like it wanted to be an art project so bad bad just had to attach a game to it
Dreamfall: The Longest Journey. After playing it for a while I couldn’t stop until I reached the end. It looks aged now but controls are generally nice and the story is amazing. And I think the character feels feminine, it’s not just a neutral character with a female skin.
That is a good game, agree. My one complaint is that there’re a few moments of drive-by transphobia in it. And some puzzles are obtuse or require items that can be missed, but a quick google solves that frustration easily if need be.
I used to go to a local PC parts store which had gaming machines you could rent by the hour and play there. With my brother and some friends we would play Giants LAN multiplayer. Good times man.
If you like Katamari Damacy you should try ps1 game called “Incredible Crisis”.
It is an extreme wacky minigame… game, one of those games that is simultaneously addictive and punishingly difficult. You play as four members of a japanese family trying to get home for grandma’s birthday, and insanity ensues. (Aliens, bank robbers, etc).
It got an english release back in 1999 but I dont think it made a huge mark. In any case, its very fun and ridiculous. Especially good to play with friends. It also has an amazing ska soundtrack by Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra if you enjoy ska, haha
I very strongly second this recommendation, especially for those who know they like space horror in general. Or for people who like FMV. Or AI stories - you play as an AI in this.
The one caveat is: this game relies on point-and-click type interaction, and it does a TERRIBLE job of indicating which items in any scene are interactable/important. There will inevitably be some time spent clicking around to see f x y or z is something you can interact with. This is super annoying.
BUT the rest of the game is amazing so it’s very worth putting up with UI issue, imo.
Final Fantasy XIV would fit the bill. The cash shop only has cosmetics, and you can pay to add more retainers (basically bank space), but in terms of actual gold buying or power upgrades, none of that exists.
Maybe they’re not so popular, or in context not worth that much, but levels and money usually are no-nos for me. Because the one appears to be straight up levels and gil.
Yeah, they’re a skip to endgame content. But they’re not any kind of “instant win.”
The couple types of pvp aren’t tied to your character level, and the most difficult raid content is best run with a group that you practice with. If you’ve never played, simply grabbing the game and one of those packages isn’t going to give you an immediate edge.
XIV is sort of a single player game with a bunch of coop boss fights.
And, not to be cliche, but you can play through the entire first two arcs (A Realm Reborn and Heavensward) completely free, with no real limitations. The only things locked out of the free tier are the more social aspects, and any content above level 60. A handful of jobs are locked, but there is a ridiculous amount of content available for free.
I’ve played a few other mmos and hated them all. XIV is something weirdly different. And the overwhelming majority of the community is chill and friendly.
I play FFXIV since 2014 and I honestly wouldn’t recommend anyone to buy this. You’re just paying to not play the game and skip the main quest (which locks up a bunch of content behind it).
Would disagree it’s where the game begins, given how story-directed it is. FFXIV is, to me, a single-player JRPG in the shell of MMO combat with a huge amount of multiplayer content. (Especially with the fulfilment of duty support allowing you to do MSQ dungeons with bots.)
It is not a normal suggestion because the base game is probably the most pay to win mmo that has lasted more than a year or two. But both versions of Runescape (both old school and Runescape 3) have a game mode called ironman mode.
Ironman mode is an official account type that you can create where you can not trade other players items or money. Everything is earned and gathered yourself. If you want to make a bow you need to gather the flax to spin a bow string and chop logs to fletch an unstrung bow and then string it.
It is a slower mmo with most skills in the game having methods to train where you don’t need to pay much attention and you can mostly watch youtube.
Both games also have very mechanically different and difficult combat encounters you can work your way up to.
Maxing out every skill in the game takes year(s) to do and there are hundreds of incredibly unique quests that in my own opinion set the bar for mmo questing. There are no kill 30 boar quests or fetch quests (really) they are mostly very in depth stories with character archs and so much lore if you are into that.
Would recommend OS over RS3, because much as I love archaeology, RS3 is overmonetised (I think most of the community agrees with that?), and that seems like a big part of what OP wanted to get away from.
Yes, FF14 does have options to skip story or (most) character levels. They are, like others have stated, primarily targeted towards players who are levelling alts (which the game by nature doesn’t really need as much).
FF14’s story is amazing, but it’s long and not necessarily something you want to repeat.
And while this is effectively buying levels, FF14 is not designed as a pay-to-win game. The amount of experience required to reach maximum level is balanced for someone who is playing the game legitimately – unlike P2W games where requirements are artificially inflated to encourage you to spend money. You will get most or all of the experience you need to hit max level just from following the storyline and a moderate amount of side quests (on one class anyways.)
That said, many FF14 players say that fashion is the true endgame… and there are a lot of nice-looking items on the store. So I suppose it depends on what your definition of “winning” is. 🙃
As others have said, the story skips are kinda awful.
Plus, I gotta say that it doesn’t really make a difference. They don’t give anyone an advantage over anyone else and don’t impact the way you experience the game at all. If you don’t like them, just don’t buy them.
At worst, you’ll run into some guys who are really bad because they skipped a huge portion of the game to get to modern content. But it doesn’t give them any edge over you by any means.
Again, I can’t stress enough how these affect other players 0%.
Some of the best gear in ESO come from their paid DLCs and Chapters. Technically locked behind a paywall, but you’ll still have to farm the gear yourself.
The microtransactions themselves only offer cosmetics, consumables (that aren’t more powerful than the craftable options), and utility stuff (race-change tokens, and skipping some of the skillpoint grind).
There is a player market for exchanging Crowns (microtransaction currency) for gold, and another player market for buying raid clears with gold. Raiding (called Trials) offer some of the best PvE gear. You don’t need to buy clears if you’re skilled enough to run those Trials and can find groups to do it with you.
If you just want to enjoy the game without worrying about min-maxing your build, all the base-game and craftable options will do you just fine.
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Aktywne