The Hidden Gem Steam Thread

Void000

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What are some games you enjoy on Steam, or other platforms, that are lesser-known, or nobody but you knows about?
 
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I play a ton of games from the eighties and early nineties, mainly through GoG. Lands of Lore, Wizardry, Ultima's, the Might and Magic series, the Gold box games, and many other. For me, recent games don't even come to giving the same joy that these classics do!
 
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I don't think cyberpunk vampire mashup Bloodnet was ever very well known, but I loved it back in the day. The gameplay was clunky even then, but the atmosphere and characters were really cool.

I don't know if it's really obscure, but I don't see it discussed much among RPG fans or roguelike fans, so I'll also say Caves of Qud. I can't play most roguelikes because the story/flavor aspect of the game is either nonexistent or it's basic fantasy cliche stuff. Caves of Qud is one of the rare games of any genre that allow you to explore what feels like a unique and interesting world. The writing is very good, and mechanically it's also very interesting and lets you do a wide variety of things, many of which you discover through experimentation (or reading a wiki, obviously)

A more truly obscure roguelike, now defunct but still obtainable, is Legerdemain. It's another roguelike that has abnormally good writing and emphasis on story and setting. Ascii graphics only on that one.
 
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I play a ton of games from the eighties and early nineties, mainly through GoG. Lands of Lore, Wizardry, Ultima's, the Might and Magic series, the Gold box games, and many other. For me, recent games don't even come to giving the same joy that these classics do!

I've never heard of any of those. Ultima? Might & Magic? Are those RPGs? ;)
 
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I enjoyed Darkwood, Hard West, Infinite Adventures, Lost Dimensions, and Tales of Wuxia, even though they are all flawed in some way and don't fit into what people here usually play. Tales of Wuxia has terrible localization, but some very interesting and unconventional ideas for an rpg. Its also very Chinese. Preparing tea and growing flowers are both skills in the game along with playing chess and calligraphy.
 
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Kingdom rush series. It kinda falls into the lesser know cathegory, although any tower defense stlye game fan is probably familiar with it. Sadly they haven't released the 4th part on PCs (yet).

Also both Kingdom games (I haven't played Two crowns that much, annoyingly it's badly optimised and slows down my old comp which runs New lands just fine).
 
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It is funny - so many of what would be called ‘hidden gems’ of the last couple of decades are all games that are beloved or at least widely discussed here: Alpha Protocol, Gothic and Risen series, Drakensang, Venetia, and so on.

Perhaps Gods: Lands of Infinity?
 
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Perhaps Swords of Xeen or Tales of Yendor 2 & 3 if someone has played too much of the Migth and magics but still wants something in the same vein
 
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I haven't played it yet but I've heard good things about Lurking II:
https://oklabsoft.itch.io/lurking-ii-a-madness

Aside from that, I really enjoyed Paper Sorcerer, which is a fun and stylish dungeon crawler - definitely recommended:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/263560/Paper_Sorcerer/

Heroes of the Monkey Tavern is a fun but basic and short (5 hrs) dungeon crawl - worth checking out at discount.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/492500/Heroes_of_the_Monkey_Tavern/

Not sure how much I'd describe them as hidden gems - they do get mentioned here. But they're a bit off the beaten track I guess
 
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Perhaps Gods: Lands of Infinity?

Fun, fun game. Surprisingly so. I thought the crafting was ahead of its time. Unfortunately, they tied the sales of the game to the fact that a Penthouse pet was the voice actress and the model for the in-game character. They should have promoted it differently, though the girl was quite pretty.
 
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Perhaps Swords of Xeen or Tales of Yendor 2 & 3 if someone has played too much of the Migth and magics but still wants something in the same vein

Man, two for two on great suggestions. Yendorian Tales 1-3 might be very difficult to get running on Win10, maybe with an Win95 emulator or Dosbox. I think I had it running on Dosbox back in the day.
 
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Man, two for two on great suggestions. Yendorian Tales 1-3 might be very difficult to get running on Win10, maybe with an Win95 emulator or Dosbox. I think I had it running on Dosbox back in the day.

I played Yendorian 2 & 3 recently without any problems during my glasses mishap think I just had to do some compability setting
 
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Sorry that was wrong

I downloaded them from https://www.oldgames.sk/en/
An abandonware site that includes dosbox settings a bit like Gog so it worked directly

I have never played part one would you recommend it
 
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I have it from GOG, but like the Crypt Of The Necodancer.
It's a roguelike, in which you have to beat the monsters according to the rhythm of the music !
It's really fun , despite the fact that my char has died during every session.
The only negative of it is its loading time. That's quite long !

Quite challenging is the Mages Of Mystralia, a fun looking game with an imho huge learning curve : You can get new spell components through challenges. And you can win some challenges only with certain spell components …
You combine them to get better and sometimes VERY different spell effects !
And you need them. Definitively.

If you want something very different, then you could try Rollers Of The Realm. Nice voiceacting, although there are not many characters + NPCs, a good learning curve, and your characters are played like balls in a pinball game !
Its only drawback is that one has to watch the intro of each fight every time one fails.

Giana Sisters, the remake, is a graphically very good jump & run game, with a good learning curve, imho. It becomes more difficult in later levels, though.

Yoku's Island Express plays like a pinball game and it's difficult from the beginning on.
 
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Sorry that was wrong

I have never played part one would you recommend it

Part 1 was the one I meant for being super hard to get running. It is really old and has a little bit different style. While the game was fun, it isn't as polished as 2/3.
 
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