The Obscure Games Thread!

[dscreamer]

Anyone here play artificial life games/simulations? My partner is a huge fan of AquaZone, what with its surprisingly accurate genetics, but everything since has just been "ooh look at the pretty fishes" without thinking about, you know, biology.

They're both older programs, but I used to enjoy a shareware game called Evolve!, as well as a program/screensaver called Primordial Life. They both had some interesting mechanics paired with genetics.

(here's a bit more info on each: http://www.auntiepixelante.com/?p=859  and  http://speciesdevblog.wordpress.com/2011/11/16/to-primordial-life/ )

[Legend]

Larva Mortus is a pretty cool one I found. It's a horror themed, top-down shooter/dungeon crawl kinda hybrid. It has some light roguelike elements like character progression and randomly generated levels. Kind of a casual game but quite fun. The horror elements are fantastic.  http://store.steampowered.com/app/11340/

Empires & uUngeons is another one wich mixes elements of strategy with very lite roguelike elements. You play campaigns trying to reach an objective. You have to gather resources and build your army. But you also have to go through random dungeons in search of treasure to fund your campaign and gain experience.The original was a generic fantasy themed game, but a sequel/update was made that changes it to a Arabian nights kinda fantasy.   http://www.nielsbauergames.com/empiresanddungeons.html

Kivi's Underworld is a fun little casual arcade-like dungeon crawl. It's the clicky kind where you click to move and attack.  You go on different missions to complete the objectives and try to score the most points by killing enemies, finding secrets, and completing the mission as fast as possible. Made by the same people who did Din's Curse which is a very good Diablo-Like.    http://www.soldak.com/Kivis-Underworld/Overview.html

[akeley]

Some would say that a person who just finished and enjoyed (okay, moderately) Killzone 2 is not qualified to post in this thread, but...oh, well.

Off top of my head/desktop:

- Infinite Space: Tiny, handheld (NDS) space-opera. From Japan. It`s a bizzare mashup of genres: some classic jRPG tropes mixed with more Western take on the Universe. Plenty of quests, ker-razy characters, open gameplay, in-depth ship & fleet customization and so on...plus  one of the best soundtracks ever (even on these rubbish speakers)

- Boiling Point: open-world FPS with RPG elements. Made-in-Russia in 2006, it was heavily hyped up as a sort of Far Cry equivalent, only to be destroyed by reviewers after release for being a  bug-ridden nightmare and became sort of a running joke.  I installed it by accident some years later - and was quite amazed. The game was patched up very well - there are still minor bugs, but nothing game breaking - and the whole package is surprisingly solid and playable. Plus, it`s deliciously oddball at times - from hilarious voiceovers to some quirky design mechanics. Factions work really well, there`s gazillion of missions to do and the game world is really huge. It even got a couple of sequels.

- The Fall: Last Days Of Gaia: Heavy duty CRPG set in a post apocalyptic word. Similarly to Boiling Point it was nigh on unplayable upon release (German-only release, to make it more unaccessible) only to be heavily patched - and fan-translated - in its later life. And it`s rather excellent, if you like this sort of thing. I`d even go as far to say that if you`re still sore about Fallout going 3D and the whole Van Buren business, give this one a go.

- Kenka Bancho: The Badass Rumble - Lawd, I love this PSP game. It`s sort of my teenage dream come true. Basically a 3D brawler set in a open-ish city with tons of things to do, heavy customization, and charm aplenty. And of course, Banchosity - aka Badassness.

- Wazhack: tried it online some time ago and just got the standalone version (5$). It`s one of these rogulike-like-likes (or something) - basically, side-scrolling dungeon crawl with permadeath. As a @-noob I`m not qualified to comment on its underlying mechanics, but it looks okay plus is quite refreshing to see this 2D angle being used. It also has some physics implemented which can be quite amusing - Giant Rats tumble down shafts and other bizarre things happen. You can try browser version here: http://www.wazhack.com/play

[guest509]

No dude...you are totally qualified to post in this thread.

[Zireael]

Is SimLife obscure enough for this thread?

EDIT: Thanks to whoever mentioned Primordial Life, I found Biogenesis now and I think I'm gonna be dead to the world for some time...

[Vanguard]

If you think it counts then it does.  Post whatever you want, this thread is a No Elitism Zone.

[tajlund]

This is a great thread.  I've been searching all over today for obscure games I might have missed through the years.  I know I'm new here, but I'd like to add a handful to see if maybe people who like obscure games might get a kick out of them.

Precursors: Pc game not too old.  First person RPG with some amazing ideas.  Made in Russia and didn't really get a wide release anywhere else.  It has a wide variety of activities and jobs your character can do.  I've gotten so wrapped up in the side quests I've only ever gotten off the first plane one time.

Xenus/Xenus 2:White Gold: From the same makers as Precursors.  This open world game has a ton of ideas that showed up later in games like Just Cause 2 and Far Cry 3.  Great First Person RPG's where you battle drug lords and make and break alliances all over the island.  Or do what I do and steal a truck and travel around just to see the scenery (watch out for restricted areas though, usually wind up with a destroyed truck).

E.Y.E. Divine Cybermancy: Not sure if this is obscure to everyone or just me, but I've just started playing this FPRPG and it is addictive as hell.  Great Cyberpunk feel and action packed.  There's nothing like hacking all of your opponents before they even see you.

Vampire Hunter D: PS1:  This game is an awesome action adventure based on the anime of the same name.  It was a great game for it's time.

Berserk Guts Revenge: Dreamcast: Action Adventure: Incredibly bloody game based on the anime.

Record of Lodoss War: Dreamcast:  As far as I can tell, this is one of the rarest games ever made for Dreamcast.  Amazing RPG from the japanese anime that is actually based on a D&D campaign.

Highlander the Last of the MacLeods: This game is based on the mediocre animated Highlander series and is a real rarity for Atari Jaguar.  The game is actually pretty fun with animated cutscenes from the animated tv show.

Veil of Darkness: Early 90's PC game.  Really fun isometric pc game about a man who's plane crashes in a backwards european village in the 1930's.  Turns out the village is under the domination of a vampire lord.

Dusk of the gods: Another early 90's game.  You are an Asgardian trying to prevent Ragnarok in this isometric RPG.

Dragon Lord:  Strategy/virtual pet hybrid from the early 90's.  Hatch dragon eggs and use potions to alter both the eggs and the dragons to beat two other dragon lords in a brutal strategy game.  Nothing more heartbreaking to have your carefully bred and raised dragon bite the dust after he's served you well.

Full Metal Planet: Early 90's game about multiple corporations battling to mine a mineral rich planet.  Way more fun than it sounds, but only if you get a couple other people together to compete with you.

Barbarian for Apple 2: Awesome game about arena fighting.  Finish him with a spin move and watch the head fly. Then when the goblin cleans out the arena he kicks the head off the screen.

That's the main ones that pop into head so far.  Let me know if you guys are interested in anything else I've played through the years

[Vanguard]

Good stuff!  Welcome to the forums!  And please feel free to post more games. 

I just remembered that I found a cool game recently too:

Alien Soldier for the Sega Genesis - I think this is the best Treasure game I've ever played.  It's a sidescrolling action platformer where you choose a bunch of weapons for your eagle man and then go and kill a bunch of monsters.  Most of the game's content is a series of really cool and unique boss fights.  The controls are a little hard to get used to, but stick with it.  It even has permadeath on the default difficulty. 

My favorite part is that you have a dash move where your guy moves across the screen super fast and he's completely invincible while he does it.  You can do it whenever you want with no cooldown or anything.  Just invincibility whenever you feel like it.  But what makes it even cooler is that if you dash while you have full health your guy does a super move where he bursts into flames and does a ton of damage at the cost of a tiny sliver of health.  So if you get good at absorbing enemy fire to heal yourself you can keep reusing the super move and shred bosses in seconds.  It rules.

[tajlund]

I vaguely remember that.  My favorites for the Genesis were Shadowrun, Fatal Labyrinth (Nice Roguelike), Eternal Champions, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Tournament Fighters, and Chakan.

[Zireael]

Is Empires & Dungeons free or not? The site's so convoluted and there is the line of "no demo/test restrictions", so?

[Enke]

You guys seem to like life sims, so here's a cellular automata simulator. It handles bounded and unbounded universes, can calculate generations at insane speeds, and can handle 256 cell states. And it's open source! Golly.

[tajlund]

Ok, one quick add on here.  Betrayal at Krondor.  If I remember right it's still a free game (got my copy out of a hardback copy of a Krondor novel.)  This RPG got almost no recognition at all when it was released but it was amazing.  The gameplay style is a little rough, but the story is incredible especially if you've read the books.

The sequel was pretty nice, but I never got anywhere with it, I think it had a harsh difficulty curve.

Ravenloft Strahds Possession was a great game, a huge jump in tech from the Eye of the Beholder series, and a great horror story to boot.  But, it never seemed to get any traction.  In this I would also add Ravenloft Stone Prophet and Menzobberanzan.  Those were even more advanced in gameplay than the first, but all kind of flew beneath the radar.  None of them ever got the recognition of the Eye of the Beholder series or the D&D Gold Box games.

[tajlund]

Oh and one I just noticed one more that is actually in my collection.  Wizards and Warriors from 2000.  This game is made by the brains behind the Wizardry series of games in an attempt to do another Wizardry game without having to worry about the licensing issues.  Anyone who grew up playing the old Wizardry games will feel right at home playing this game.  And the best part: it works on many modern pc's.

[Vanguard]

I might try that.  I've tried to get into the Wizardry series, but haven't stuck with it.  Would you say this game is easier to get into than the Wizardry games?  If not, what's the best Wizardry to start with?

[Enke]

Went digging through my games folder today and found saves for Open TTD. A very good remake of the classic game. I should start playing that again. http://www.openttd.org/en/