With the Steam sale running, this seems like a good time to try this thread again. We don’t often use the downvote button much in Lemmy, but the idea is this: Do your best to present game suggestions that no one has heard of before. If, in reading other people’s suggestions, you spot one that you’re familiar with, then put a downvote on it. Ideally, if the game is past a year old, it may have a discounted price during the Steam sale, and others will be able to check it out.
I’ve made this thread once before and it generated some good suggestions, but the rate of indie publishing on Steam has only accelerated with time, so it seems to be worth trying again.
I’ll throw in another one, why not. Withering Rooms is one of my absolute favorite games I’ve played this year. It’s an action/light horror roguelike that ends up being a very unique experience despite clear inspiration from games like Silent Hill and Dark Souls. For a solo developer game (who even wrote the wonderful music himself) it’s a seriously impressive game, especially with the amount of small QOL touches. I thought the puzzles were intuitive personally, but I loved and appreciated that there is both an in-game “Puzzle Oracle” consumable if you are stuck, and a tiered hint section on the website if you need a nudge.
There’s a ton of builds you can do, from various magic builds to melee and ranged and traps and more. The story is also very interesting, the world building is excellent and I enjoyed the writing. It really nails a certain vibe that very few games get right. For me, exploring this unique and interesting but dangerous world filled with a cast of weird and strange characters gave me similar emotions as playing Dark Souls 1 the first time. And it’s hard to give higher marks than that.
Amazing game.
I downvoted this per the thread rules, but I only just heard about it and played it a month ago. Unbelievably good. Withering Realms is a follow-up coming out later this year as well!
One of the downvotes I’m happiest about getting ever, I think. I’m glad this gem isn’t completely unknown!
Withering Realms looks incredible but I might wait until full release, which is hopefully next year. September is so stacked. That being said, I’m not sure there are any of the other upcoming games I look forward to as much as this anyway…
That’s what I was shocked by honestly. I think it’s a solo dev? And it feels a little indie in that way, but the entire package is so tightly done and the story is actually fascinating - the game quickly became one of the best I’ll play this year over many AAA games and Realms is now top of my list too. Really an insane achievement from a solo dev; they have a lot to be proud of. And their Early Access plan is to have Realms complete from start to finish and use it as a refinement process? Lot of respect for that.
Solo dev game, yeah. Also his debut game! Wild. They actually revised the plan. It was supposed to enter Early Access in May, and then have NG+ added later on. Instead they pushed it to September but supposedly feature complete. We’ll see if it’s a wise choice - September is a rough month to compete in.
But yeah, absolutely agreed on how good the game is. Good balance, nice build variety, the systems all work so well, the NG+ implementation is super cool and the game just has so many little surprises to throw at you. And it’s much bigger than you might think at first.
I still think Titanium Court edges it for me in terms of my number one favourite game I’ve played this year, but those are the top two for sure. And they’re both solo dev games! Madness.
Oh, Titanium Court looks a little familiar; may have heard about it when it first came out. I’ll have to check it out then!
It had a big buzz around it during the next fest this spring and also some around when it launched. It’s not going to be for everyone, but you’ll probably know if you vibe with it within the Steam refund window. It’s one of the hardest games to describe I’ve ever played, especially since you really want to play it completely blind. It’s a little like if David Foster Wallace made a modern interpretation of A Midsummer Nights Dream as a pseudo match-3 game? It’s a little like Undertale but for adults?
I don’t know, I recommend just giving it a shot.
Haha that’s a wild description. I recently told a friend who doesn’t play games that some of the best stories being told in media are happening in video games (and you also have a lot of B-level TV quality). I’ll go with your suggestion and just dive into it - I like Match-3 games, so worst case scenario I just enjoy that.
Please let me know what you think when you’ve finished it! I haven’t really been able to discuss it with a lot of people despite trying to push it onto as many others as I can hah.